James McMurtry

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Tuesday February 4 is a beautiful sunny warm day with temperatures rising to 80F. It's so nice we both go swimming in Barton Springs. Kate does lengths, I take some dips, photos and admire the scenery.

That evening we see James McMurtry at the Continental Club Gallery. It's a small seedy listening room above the Continental Club on South Congress. Doors open at 8:00 for a weekly 8:30-10:00 solo show with a modest $10 cover. James does a regular midnite show with a full band downstairs on another night. But at our age we don't/can't stay up that late. We did catch him with a band one time at Threadgill's on Barton Springs which has since closed. Another time we caught him at Waterloo Records when his last album "Complicated Game" was released.

That night Donald Trump, currently impeached, delivers his "State of the Union" to Congress. We'd rather be here. James has a great song “State of the Union” about the current great divide in America. We saw James McMurtry the night that Trump was elected.

The gallery seats about 40-50 patrons with some tables and a few comfy but tired sofas -- we claim a comfy sofa and pick up some drinks at the bar. It's a mixed crowd with all ages but most are mature over 30's.

James reminds people that waitstaff throughout the US, but especially so here in Austin, are poorly paid and rely on tips to survive. Therefore you should dig deep and tip liberally -- start at 25% and work your way up.

We've seen James here before; I suspect we come once during every visit. I think the first time we saw him was at La Zona Rosa in the warehouse district when it really was a warehouse district (it's now a mass of very tall high rises and office buildings). Back then (1994 or so) he was working on tunes for what became the LP "Where'd You Hide the Body".

His first album, "Too Long in the Wasteland" (1989) has this memorable verse which pretty much wraps up the Austin story

I'm not from here, I just live here
But people tell me it's not like it used to be
They say I should've been here back about ten years
Before it got ruined by folks like me

We like this place. People are attentive, it's a listening room. And James has a large catalogue of songs to draw from (e.g. State of the Union, Choctaw Bingo, Copper Canteen, etc.). He tries out a few songs we have not heard before (and we have a collection of his music). Most are somewhat sad stories, little vignettes of life's failings. One was a story set in the west about the farm going bust/dry and driving a big rig to make enough to feed the horses. Another was a story about a farm that fails and a friend who gets shot. His songs always have interesting stories. He's an important and studied writer -- his father is the author Larry McMurtry.

James is amazing on guitars -- he alternately plays a 6 and a 12 string acoustic. He makes them sing like a full orchestra, really quite impressive. I note that sometimes he plays with two capos on the guitar neck -- a short one for the high strings and another to bridge the bass notes. I'd never seen anyone do that before.

He tells some stories we've heard. Like how his dad left the church and became an atheist, how methodists refuse to dance, how "Copper Canteen" got cited in the "failing" New York Times, how he wrote "Levelland" (which became a Robert Earl Keene hit) and how he's really just there to sell beer so go buy some while I tune my guitar. Of the tunes that apply during these odd times he does "State of the Union", he doesn't do "We Can't Make it Here Anymore" or "Cheney's Toy" (dated of course).

Oddly James does not come to these shows with any merchandise to sell. I guess you're just supposed to stop in to Waterloo Records.

Anyways, James McMurty is a really good artist if you like songs with rich story lines. And this is a good venue to see him play. We'll be back.