{"id":14146,"date":"2022-04-20T13:53:30","date_gmt":"2022-04-20T18:53:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/?p=14146"},"modified":"2023-01-31T09:58:53","modified_gmt":"2023-01-31T15:58:53","slug":"james-mcmurtry-reconsidered-his-synchronistic-guitar-playing-is-the-yin-to-his-extraordinary-songwriting-yang","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/?p=14146","title":{"rendered":"James McMurtry’s synchronistic guitar playing is the yin to his songwriting yang"},"content":{"rendered":"
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James McMurtry. Courtesy Texas Monthly<\/em><\/p>\n

James McMurtry has embarked on his first tour in several years. He will perform solo in dates running through April, then continue with his band in May, on a tour running through the end of July. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Upper Midwest McMurtry dates include April 22 at Old Town School of Music, in Chicago, June 11 at the SPACE, in Evanston, June 12 at Shank Hall in Milwaukee (https:\/\/shankhall.com\/<\/a>), and June 14 at The Ark in Ann Arbor. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the full tour list:<\/em><\/strong> https:\/\/www.highroadtouring.com\/artists\/james-mcmurtry\/itinerary\/<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>Imagining James McMurtry in his element<\/em>:<\/strong> He squints hard, and sees humanity and the world with laser vision, in the cruel Texas-glare sun, amid imperious cactuses. Flies buzz like hungry little devils. James coughs in the dust, but a man knows what he\u2019s gotta do. Especially if he\u2019s as driven as he is. He could drive a cattle herd across that behemoth state, and beyond, like the one his father Larry McMurtry famously depicted in his famous novel Lonesome Dove<\/em>.<\/p>\n

But such epic drives are rare now, as cattle growing and marketing are bad for the planet. James knows this, even as he commemorates, partially in Spanish, a deceased cowboy friend and his tradition in his recent song \u201cVaquero.\u201d So, he turns off his vintage Ford Falcon convertible, peers at the horizon, the hot wind rippling his long gray hair. He lifts his cowboy hat, wipes sweat off his grimy brow, then plops the hot hat right back on. Part of him wishes he has a horse raring to go, instead of a smelly old car. So, he reaches over to the passenger seat, unbuckles his 12-string Gibson acoustic guitar, climbs out, leans against the car, and starts up a big sky-type chordal pattern.<\/p>\n

He sings, \u201cNo more buffalo\u2026\u201d This thought he seems to care about greatly, as metaphor and as reality. Why and how? The guitar has plenty to do with it.<\/p>\n

James McMurtry at home<\/em>:<\/strong> He ended another Livestream pandemic solo home concert recently with that <\/em>song, set his guitar down and said \u201cthank you\u201d to the silent audience that can applaud only with Facebook comments. I think \u201cNo More Buffalo\u201d is something of a signature song, and I think he feels that way, too. You could make an obvious case for \u201cWe Can\u2019t Make It Here,\u201d too, or perhaps \u201cJust Us Kids,\u201d or \u201cChoctaw Bingo.\u201d The majestically big-picture \u201cLong Island Sound\u201d and one troubled man\u2019s stunningly confessional \u201cDecent Man\u201d are more recent candidates.<\/p>\n

(As far as I know, McMurtry’s “Live with Restream” home solo concerts are only available on his Facebook page, which you can follow: https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/watch\/JamesMcMurtry\/<\/a>)\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

But those songs are mostly anthemic, and clear hallmarks, whereas James is also an expert in understatement, of tracing the shadows of the underserved. Among his more indelible intimate American portraits is the stoic loser of \u201cRachel\u2019s Song,\u201d who might be quite typical of many contemporary divorced people, stumbling along spiritually on a deserted street. It\u2019s telling that Jason Isbell, a younger talent of superlative songwriting skills, has covered this song, with tender insight.<\/p>\n

As an American troubadour McMurtry rivals any we know today. But he\u2019s also only the peculiar kind he\u2019s capable of being. That happens to involve an atypical genius which has been insufficiently addressed to date, in its artistic fullness.<\/p>\n

Indeed, the often-surly glory of his artistry is piling up just a bit: Not only have I not yet written about his latest album The Horses and the Hounds, <\/em>but I\u2019ve also come to realize that his fullest artistry doesn\u2019t just lie squarely on his most salient talent, the lyric-endowed song.<\/p>\n

McMurtry started playing guitar at age seven (first taught him by his mother, an English professor) but didn\u2019t start writing songs until he was 18, he has said.<\/p>\n

The stereotype is the gifted singer-songwriter as a type of literary whiz. We don\u2019t associate their guitar-playing and songwriting skills as part of a shared prism of expression and narrative, especially coming out of the folk tradition, where a songwriter is expected to do little more than simply strum through simple chord changes.<\/p>\n