Jame McMurty - Live In Europe

James McMurtry
Live In Europe CD + DVD
Lightning Rod Records
2009

Band Members: James McMurtry- Guitar, Vocals/Tim Holt- Guitar/Ronnie Johnson- Bass, Backing Vocals/Ian McLagan- Keyboards/Jon Dee Graham- Guitar, Vocals

Track Listing: Bayou Tortue/Just Us Kids/Hurricane Party/You’d A’ Thought (Leonard Cohen Must Die)/Fraulein O./Ruby And Carlos/Freeway View/Restless

DVD: (Filmed at Amsterdam’s Paradiso Club) Choctaw Bingo/You’d A’ Thought (Leonard Cohen Must Die)/Freeway View/We Can’t Make It Here/Laredo/Too Long In The Wasteland

Virginia native/Austin, TX-transplant (and son of Lonesome Dove author Larry McMurtry) James McMurtry may have been raised mainly on the East coast, but his subsequent travels across the U.S.- as far South as Florida and North to Alaska- have served him well in his 20+ years as a roving, tale-tellin’ troubador of the highest order. A chance meeting with superstar singer John Mellencamp on the set of a movie his father had written the script for eventually led to his 1989 debut, Too Long In The Wasteland, which Mellencamp co-produced.

Right from the get-go, McMurtry dove deeper into the heart of controversial, socio-economic issues his pal Mellencamp only got close to once, with the landmark anti-corporate anthem “Rain On The Scarecrow.” The title of his first release set the stage for what’s been an ever-evolving, gutsy, fearless condemnation of the unforgivable transgressions of this country’s leaders, business people, and lazy, too-comfortable upper middle-class citizens. 1995’s Where’d You Hide The Body set the bar for the biting, snarling lyrical commentary McMurtry’s made a name for himself with- his father may well be this generation’s Louis L’Amour, but if he is, his offspring is right up there with Woody Guthrie, Dylan, and Pete Seeger when it comes to painting frighteningly accurate portraits of a rapidly-rotting American infrastructure and the unfortunates who fall between the cracks in an increasingly self-involved general populace.

2005’s Childish Things not only found James sharpening his pen (and his tongue) to a theretofore only hinted at razor’s edge, but garnered massive critical approval and spent six consecutive weeks in 2005 and 2006 at Number One on the Americana Music Radio Chart. The album, with the absolutely scathing story-song “We Can’t Make It Here,” was rife with soul-shaking lines such as “…that big old building was a textile mill that fed our kids an’ it paid our bills/But they turned us out and they closed the door/’Cause we can’t make it here anymore/Ya see those pallets piled up on the loading dock?/They’re just gonna sit there ’til they rot/’Cause there’s nothin’ to ship, nothin’ to pack/Just busted concrete and rusted tracks/Empty store-fronts around the square, there’s a needle in the gutter an’ glass everywhere/You don’t come down here unless you’re lookin’ to score, an’ we can’t make it here anymore…” won both album and song of the year at the Americana Music Awards, and, if he’s ever heard it, probably still gives George Bush some well-deserved nightmares.

Live In Europe, which includes a short but entertaining DVD extra, shies away from most of that more controversial material (he was probably high on the massive, sweeping political changes underway here at home around the time of this gig, and thought better of inciting European crowds who are only now beginning to thaw towards Americans in general, so he only included blistering, anti-Bush cuts like “We Can’t Make It Here” at select venues) instead focusing on some of the more personal-relationship material he’s written and cuts from his critically-acclaimed, Billboard charting 2008 release Just Us Kids.

McMurtry’s crack touring outfit, including respected special guests ex-Faces keyboardist Ian McLagan (whose whimsical, free-spirited contributions add just the right touch of sparkle and glitter to Mac’s often dire lyrical output) and Jon Dee Graham (who only appears here on the DVD extra, jamming merrily along to his own highly disturbing serial-killer anthem, “Laredo,”) on keys and guitar, respectively, is so spot-on and well-rehearsed that without the crowd clapping and McMurtry’s occasional between-song banter, you’d swear this was a studio outing.

Even when he does touch on his more controversial subject matter (Most notably on “Hurricane Party,” “Ruby And Carlos,” and the gritty relationship/self-examination cut “You’d A Thought (Leonard Cohen Must Die,)” McMurtry manages to keep the mood fairly light and allow that excellent backing band to spread their figurative musical wings and soar, especially on the rollicking, rousing ditty “Freeway View,” which finds McLagan positively tearing up his piano ala’ Jerry Lee Lewis or Little Richard.

All in all, a fine aural snapshot of a highly underrated American singer/songwriter whose every word literally defines what this country’s founders would have called Patriotic, and a fitting documentary (this package also contains a highly-recommended DVD) of a welcome visit to far-off lands by a musical ambassador any honest, hard-working American would be proud to send abroad.

-Tom Hallett

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