Description

When his father died in 2021, James McMurtry went through his effects and discovered a rough pencil sketch of himself as a child. I knew it was of me, but I didnt realize who drew it. I had to ask my stepmom, and she said it looked like Ken Kesey work back in the 60s. The Merry PrankstersKesey roving band of hippie activists and creatorsstopped by often to visit Larry McMurtry, his wife Faye, and his very young son James.He held on to that drawing as he worked on a new album, The Black Dog &amp the Wandering Boy, his eleventh. It a collection of rough-hewn story-songs and richly drawn characters sketches that have elements of Americanarolling guitars, barroom harmonies, traces of banjo and harmonicabut sound too sly and smart for such a generalized category. Funny and sad often in the same
eath, it adds a new chapter to a long career that has enjoyed a recent resurgence as younger songwriters like Sarah Jarosz (who plays on the new album) and Jason Isbell (who took McMurtry on tour) cite him as a formative influence.McMurtry characters face similar realizations, although theirs are harder, sadder, and arrive at the end of life rather than the beginning. Sometimes they find life savers, like a calling or a fond memory sometimes they drown, like that South Texas lawman. Even the songwriter himself doesnt always know what will happen or what will inspire him. You follow the words where they lead. If you can get a character, maybe you can get a story. If you can set it to a verse-chorus structure, maybe you can get a song.”