James McMurtry

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Wednesday was my birthday (once again we're in Austin). We had a pretty quiet day as the weather was not cooperating but that evening we were lucky to see James McMurtry solo at his residency at the Continental Club Gallery on South Congress. Amazing show, as always. 

Of the many tunes that we enjoyed that night I was struck when he played "Peter Pan", from "It Had to Happen" (1997). It includes the chorus:

I keep my distance, as best I can
living out my time here in Never Never land
I can't grow up 'cause I'm too old now
I guess I really did it this time mom

That line "I can't grow up 'cause I'm to old now" pretty much captures me and my birthday. This YouTube video (2023) of James performing "Peter Pan" at this club captures the event pretty well; even down to the stage patter. We have pictures of the show, we don't record videos.

We have seen James several times over the years on our visits to Austin (you can search this blog if you're interested). One of our very early experiences would have been at La Zona Rosa (1994) when he was working on "Where'd You Hide the Body" (1995). He has a regular residency at the Continental Club when he's not on the road touring (recently he's been touring with BettySoo). One night he's solo upstairs and another night he plays downstairs with his band. We much prefer the solo show. He started the show with "Red Dress". He's performed that in a red dress while touring with BettySoo as a protest against the repressive drag queen laws in Tennessee (see Bijou Theatre, Knoxville 2023).

There were lots of his hits that night, "Choctaw Bingo" of course. Most we recognize right away although I had to go home to look up where the Peter Pan story comes from. There's another new tune, "Pinocchio in Vegas", that I was expecting but didn't hear that night. Overall I was struck by the melancholy of the music, especially in "Copper Canteen", from "Complicated Game" (2015). The opening lines may get a laugh in Texas:

Honey, don't you be yelling at me when I'm cleaning my gun
I'll wash the blood off the tailgate when deer season's done

But the story is not funny at all. Peter Pan is a story of a young person's relationship, this one is about a long standing relationship and the boundaries and compromises that make it work.

See also our blog, Complicated Game, Waterloo Records (2015), a record release performance we saw on another visit to Austin.

I'm not a musician (Kate plays a bit of guitar) but I've always been impressed by James' guitar work. He can make a single acoustic guitar sound like a full orchestra. Some novelties I see in his guitar work: he often uses two capos (one to tune the bass strings differently); he often tunes down the bass strings; he plays with a 6 string, 12 string and 8 string acoustic guitars! I don't think I've ever seen an 8 string guitar before. He plays with some force and part of the set includes a break so we can go to the bar while he retunes the instruments. He's amazing and a real treat to see.

We met a couple our age at the door from Cinncinnati and shared a front row couch with them for the show. We four were the first in the door at 8pm on a cold winter night. They were on their way to a vacation in Hawaii and had stopped in Austin for a couple of days. They were staying just across the street in the Austin Motel ("So close, yet so far out on South Congress") and had been to some of our favorite haunts — e.g., Guero's and the Magnolia Cafe both down the street a bit. They were really surprised to find that James was playing across the street and pleased to see him in this solo environment. They had seen him before touring with his band. I think it will have been a night to remember for them, it certainly was for us!