Search - James Mcmurtry :: Childish Things

Still the Southwestern Boss

Willowcat | New England | 03/06/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"James McMurtry comes through again with a musical snapshot of the southwest. While the tone and style of the music itself may be somewhat predictable, (although pleasently so), his lyrics are worthy of print. McMurtry manages to distill issues into distinct stories, sometimes amusing, ("Slew Foot"), sometimes heartbreakingly poignant, ("Holiday"). Listening to this CD is like looking through a scrapbook of the lives of people who work for a living, who struggle to make it in a hard part of the country and who manage to maintain hope and grace while doing so.



McMurtry is one artist who consistently makes first class music. No bad tracks, no mistakes, and no disapointments. I highly recommend this CD to any fans, as well as to anyone who appreciates smart, literate, and on point artists."

Solid album but probably not the best introduction to Mcmurt

Phillip Jason Housley | Tennessee | 11/16/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This is a good album with the two strongest songs being the first and last. I probably would give this 4 stars if I was not addicted to the 'Live in Aught 3' which could be one of the best 3 live albums ever. I think it would be a better intro to McMurtry's music and his great live sound. This album is dark but it needs to be to tell the stories he brings. Although this is not my favorite of his work, it is easily worth the money to hear how a real songwriter crafts his vision. Memorial Day is a really solid strong, as well as Holiday (not quite as lighthearted as REK's Merry Christmas from the Family), but the real gem is 'We Can't make it Here'. Buy this album, McMurty's work is just as relevant as Springsteen or Steve Earl with the humor and wordsmithing of Robert Earl Keen."

Redneck Intellectual With His Loss of Innocence and Faith

prisrob | New EnglandUSA | 02/24/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

""When someone with as much writing talent as McMurtry takes up his pen to speak out on the state of things today, you know it's going to carry a tremendous amount of weight, as well as passion. McMurtry delivers a brilliant new disc filled with compassionate, heartfelt lyrics and strong, deeply rich melodies, answering the question I've long been asking, "Where are today's voices of outrage?" Here they are."

Kathy Coleman



James McMurtry is known for his song 'We Can't Make It Here', a protest song from the 2004 elections that shows "compassionate conservatism as a smokescreen for adding to the coffers of the rich, despite the detrimental impact that it has upon those who are less fortunate". It is sung with the cadence of a man who scorns those people and knows their dirty secrets. James grew up with dad; author Larry McMurtry, after his parents divorced. He picked up a guitar at the age of seven and never put it down. He credits 'Little Feat' and 'The Band' as early influences. He says as well that the "revelatory concerts courtesy of Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson" opened his eyes to the social fabric of the United States of which he sings. He plays guitar and sings with his group 'The Heartless Bastards'. This album depicts a man who like many of us, has come to face disappointment with the reality of life in these United States. The twelve songs on this CD flow effortlessly from one to another. Yet, each has its own story to tell.



'See The Elephant'-'I Want To See The Elephants', which is about a circus or travelin' show where a young man will get his first sexual experience. Along with the circus comes prostitutes and others, and the young men who see others they know visiting 'The Elephants, "Please Daddy Let Me Go To See The Elephants In The Travelin' Show.





'Childish Things"- he talks about childhood and a lost way of life that probably weren't all that his memories bring back. How to know when to put away childish things.



'We Can't make It Here'-as stated a 2004 protest song to the election and conservatism. It also talks about the decline of the American heartland. This song won "Best Song of Americana". Bernie Sanders of Vermont used this song as his theme song, and he won his Senate seat.



'Slew Foot'-he sings a duet with Joe Ely on this old standard.



'Bad Enough'-"Where have ya been, when ya gonna learn, when are you gonna give anything in return, when ya gonna act like you should" A relationship that is going nowhere.



"Memorial Day'-Off to Gramma's house on this holiday to remember our heroes. An excuse for relatives getting' together. 'Whuppins' for swearing and maybe a pie. "Memorial Day in America, this is how it's supposed to be.



'Old Part of Town'-trying to relive a favorite part of life and revisit the good times.



'Six Year Drought'- vivid portrait of a run-down town from the perspective of a drifter. "I'm just a visitor here, drought won't hurt me none.'



'Charlemagne's Home Town'- "I can hear your voice across the water- that's not near enough'



'Pocatello'-choppy rhythm that signifies a woman who is about to become temptation. "Batten down your hatches, I c and hear my gramma say, you like to play with matches, boy you goin to burn yourself someday."





'Holiday'-this song sums up the force of this CD- a family Thanksgiving road trip leads to an image of a middle-aged National Guardsman, sitting in an airport waiting to ship out to Iraq. "There's something inside that won't let us be," McMurtry sings. "And it's damn near as deadly as Texans on ice."



"Like most music critics, I have a long list of pet artists who remain criminally underexposed to the general public. Most of them I'm happy to keep to myself and the other music nudniks, but the persistent obscurity of James McMurtry nags at me like a sore tooth. Why isn't this guy famous, or at least critically revered on the same level as fellow maverick country-rockers like John Hiatt and Steve Earle and younger upstarts like Ryan Adams? He's American popular music's best lyricist since Dylan, and his chugging, elemental brand of roots rock, at its best, frames his words and world-weary voice so perfectly as to sound effortless, as if he and his band just coined all the chords on the spot. He's the Raymond Carver of singer-songwriters, an absolute master at unveiling complex truths with deceptively simple technique and a rigorous lack of pretense. In other words, there's no else like him in American music." Andy Herman



We learn from James McMurtry that we can get mad at each other for awhile and then we need to learn to laugh at ourselves. He sings with a conversational narrative like a long lost friend. We listen to his carefully worded lyrics and the mastery of his guitar. James McMurtry is an American experience that loosens up our reserve, and we want to protest right along with him. Highly Recommended. prisrob 2-24-07



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