Today’s world is a chaotic place, full of anger and vocalized disappointment in government; a place where families cling to each other in safe solidarity and the everyday workingman is the backbone of small communities. And it is in times like these that the ghost of Woody Guthrie’s words, the echo of an old acoustic Bob Dylan composition or Johnny Cash hymn start to float back up into the consciousness of the nation we live in. Escaping into a Katy Perry sugar-coated bubblegum bubble may be one option but others choose to contemplate on a more adult level and look for relief in the words of a song trying to tell the truth, or rather their opinion of the turmoil at hand.
In other words, this is a time for someone like James McMurtry, who tends to tell his stories with an unsterilized bullshit sensor from a local guy’s perspective. Although the son of a famous well-respected author, his view of the world is no more different than yours and mine, us normal folk who pay bills with day jobs and daydream about simple Saturday afternoons in a fishing boat, on a beach or kicked back in a La-Z-Boy with a football game on the hard-earned big screen.
Therefore, when McMurtry sings, “Hanging on to a pot to piss in is just about the best a man can do,” from 2015’s “Carlisle’s Haul,” you feel an immediate recognition.
McMurtry doesn’t squint into the sun and he doesn’t hack you with a forked tongue. He simply tells you your story with a calmness that can hint at frustration. His even-keeled delivery packs a punch when taken in a fifteen-song setting, just the singer and a couple of beautiful acoustic guitars and a sip of water in-between. Humble with an air of confidence, McMurtry, who played the Manship Theatre on 9/15 as part of the Red Dragon Listening Room’s Songwriters Series, introduced some songs while tuning his own guitars, half-talking to us, half-talking to himself, about Methodists, bartenders, fishermen, writing songs in New Orleans and The New York Times.
The Virginia-raised, Austin, Texas-based singer opened with the title track from his 2002 Saint Mary Of The Woods, an album he would pull from three more times during his set. But it was songs from 2015’s Complicated Game that spoke the loudest: “Ain’t Got A Place,” “Copper Canteen,” “Carlisle’s Haul,” “Long Island Sound” and “You Got To Me.” From zinging opening-liners like “Copper Canteen”s, “Honey, don’t you be yelling at me when I’m cleaning my gun,” to the sadness of, “Brought all this empty down on top of me, I didn’t know that we were not to be, But I know a thing or two now” from “You Got To Me.” This may be McMurtry’s best album to-date.
“Choctaw Bingo,” six songs in, brought with it the first of several standing ovations of the night with it’s energized jitterbugging beat, spirited guitar and rapid fire vocalization. “Peter Pan” from 1997’s It Had To Happen and the show-ending “Hurricane Party” from 2008’s Just Us Kids were also hugely appreciated by the audience at the Manship Theatre in Baton Rouge.
One aspect of McMurtry that tends to get lost amidst his more-known words of everyday wisdom is his guitar playing. Utilizing two acoustics throughout the evening, a red Guild and a 12-string Takamine, he revved up and emotioned down, depending upon the mood of the song. His lovely intro to “Rachel’s Song” off the Where’d You Hide the Body album and the previously mentioned kicking guitar of “Choctaw Bingo” were highlights of his skill on the instrument.
Louisiana native Steve Judice opened for McMurtry accompanied by Gary Ragan, an excellent guitarist in his own right, and if you haven’t taken a listen to these two then you are missing something special. Both played acoustics and whereas McMurtry has a more worldly Americana view, Judice has his roots firmly in the more country side of the singer-songwriter style. With a likable scratchy voice and a pleasant stage presence, Judice entertained with six songs. A lawyer by trade, Judice released his first album, Stormy Goodbyes & Laughing Eyes, in 2009, and like the headliner he can also produce a bite in his songs – although Judice will often sing them with a smile on his face. Case in point, “Nightfall’: “Some of the dirtiest deeds are done in darkness, where an evil heart can hide in open view.” A jugular move if I ever heard one.
His song “Matches” was written with a young local songwriter named Clay Parker (who opened for Chris Hillman and Herb Pedersen last year in Baton Rouge) and Judice joked about it sounding like the children’s ditty “Peter Cottontail.” After a few bars and the audience’s recognition, he laughed and said, “I told you.” His song “Oh Lord” was inspired by the movie Hidden Figures, while “To Have & To Hold” was written for his 39th wedding anniversary. “It’s a love song for aging couples,” he said. Closing with “Paper,” a song he wrote in tribute to Texas singer-songwriter Guy Clark who passed away in 2016 and was a huge inspiration for Judice, it was a fitting end to his time on the stage.
For McMurtry, a soft-spoken man who spent some time chatting with fans after his show, he lets his songs do most of his talking; although he did give some insight to a few of his tunes. Introducing 1995’s “Levelland,” he called it “One of the best Robert Earl Keen songs that I ever wrote;” and for 2015’s “Ain’t Got A Place,” “I wrote this down the road in New Orleans … where I was the perfect mix of drunk and pissed off.”
For those who think McMurtry is too bristly or too political or too “pissed off” to entertain, then another listen with an open mind might just do the trick to turn those opinions around. Yes, he does have plenty to say but that’s what he does best.
SETLIST: Saint Mary Of The Woods, Red Dress, Copper Canteen, You Got To Me, Ain’t Got A Place, Choctaw Bingo, Rachel’s Song, Long Island Sound, Gulf Road, No More Buffalo, Levelland, Carlisle’s Haul, Lights Of Cheyenne, Peter Pan. ENCORE: Hurricane Party.
Live photographs by Leslie Michele Derrough
