MUSIC: McMurtry's songs tell insightful, bleak tales

LITTLE ROCK — Telling stories in songs would seem to be second nature for singer-songwriter-guitarist James McMurtry. After all, his father, novelist Larry McMurtry, has told a memorable story or two in his day.

James, surrounded by the rock and country music of his generation, grew up with the desire to tell his stories in songs, and he has done so over the course of nine albums, the latest of which, Just Us Kids, came out April 15, better-known to some Americans as "Tax Day." McMurtry, a native of Fort Worth and resident of the Austin, Texas, area, has played in recent years at several clubs in central Arkansas when he has something to say. His latest release follows his similarly named 2006 CD, Childish Things, although no one should mistake either for collections of tunes meant for the younger set. Indeed, "We Can't Make It Here," a song that eerily seemed to prophesy the current economicwoes in the United States, won an Americana Music Award for Song of the Year (the album it's on won Album of the Year) in September 2006.

And according to Blender magazine, his new album provides more "hard-boiled depiction of hardscrabble '00s life on the edge of recession." One of the new songs, "Cheney's Toy," which features references to the war in Iraq, Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, and a soldier who returns from the war blind and braindamaged, has been described by Rolling Stone magazine as "one of the sharpest indictments yet of George Bush." Another song, "God Bless America," concerns corporate profiteering and the cronies whohave gotten rich over the past eight years, while other songs address drug addicts, murderers and other unsavory types loose in the land.

Noted horror novelist Stephen King calls McMurtry "the truest, fiercest songwriter of his generation." McMurtry produced his latestalbum himself and features some of his friends on it: Ian McLagen, formerly of The Faces, on piano;

Jon Dee Graham, formerly of The True Believers, on guitar;

Pat McDonald of Timbuk3 on harmonica; and Louisiana rocker C.C. Adcock on guitar.

The new album is on new label Lightning Rod Records,McMurtry's fourth label home, after starting out on Columbia Records (where his first album was produced by John Mellencamp), then moving on to Sugar Hill and then to Compadre.

His touring band features Ronnie Johnson on bass and harmony vocals and Daren Hess on drums.

Music

James McMurtry 9:30 p.m. Saturday, Juanita's, 13th and Main streets, Little Rock Tickets: $12; open to those age 18 and over (501) 374-3271

Weekend, Pages 62 on 11/21/2008