CD Odyssey Disc 1414: James McMurtry

The CD Odyssey is prone to wild style swings. My last review was heavy metal and now we return to country/folk.

Disc 1414 is…. It Had To Happen

Artist: James McMurtry

Year of Release: 1997

What’s up with the Cover? A man, his guitar, and an unattractive, ill-fitting hat. We must assume he insisted on wearing it even after the photographer pleaded with him to take it off. But no, James insisted it was a bad hair day and the hat was necessary, not realizing that it was 1997 and every day back then was a bad hair day. Bad hair was just the style of the time.

How I Came To Know It: I read a review of the album “Just Us Kids” on a list of best indie folk albums, and that led me to McMurtry. From there I just started digging, as I’m wont to do.

How It Stacks Up: McMurtry has nine studio albums, but I’m only partial to six of them. Of those six, I put “It Had To Happen” in at #5. I already had “Childish Games” in at #5, but I’ve bumped it up one. Sometimes you gotta course correct.

Ratings: 3 stars

McMurtry records always have two things going for them: the tone of his guitar and a natural gift for storytelling. “It Had to Happen” isn’t his best record, but these two things hold it up and make it worth some of your time.

The guitar in particular is beautiful here. He doesn’t do a bunch of Eddie Van Halen style digital acrobatics, but McMurtry’s guitar has a “voice” that is rich and full. When he strums, the strum gets down into your soul and when he does a little riff it is free and easy. Each note or chord hangs just a little in the air, still fading as the next one comes in, lush and thick.

McMurtry’s playing is never in a hurry, which given his penchant for six- and seven-minute epics is just as well. With lesser playing, these songs could try your patience, but instead it is like a pleasant road trip, with miles and miles of highway and a journey that is just as relaxing as the destination. “Peter Pan” in particular just trills away like some kind of reimagined Eagles song. You can feel yourself in a convertible, refusing to grow up just like the song’s titular subject, hair free in the breeze. Sadly, the experience failed to blow that hat off McMurtry’s head.

The album is produced by Lloyd Maines and he does a fine job of just letting McMurtry’s gravelly voice meander through these songs, with lots of space to let that guitar shine even more.

McMurtry also tells a solid story. Although “It Had to Happen” isn’t as strong as some of the records that come after, there is still some good stuff in here. “Paris” is an exploration of how we all want to get noticed more than we are, and how that experience is amplified in a foreign city. It can be freeing to be anonymous, but it can also make you feel small.

The record has more than its fair share of quiet resignation. If you are in a mood to wallow at how life isn’t always the thrill-ride your youth imagined it would be, then McMurtry invites you to wallow away. Sometimes the images he employs are a bit strained (I wasn’t feeling “No More Buffalo” nor “Wild Man From Borneo” the way McMurtry wanted me to), but even those songs have an inoffensive mosey. I just wanted them to have a little more feeling and a little less clever, given their somber and introspective themes.

My favourite song is the record’s last, “Jaws of Life” a song that compares the wear and tear of life with that crazy contraption used to extricate people from car wrecks. Or as McMurtry leads us off:

“Questions in the eyes of the precious few
Like the want to say “man, what’s happened to you?”
I got aches and pains where I didn’t used to
I kinda hope they’ve got ‘em too.”

And then the chorus detailing just what happened:

“In the jaws of life I find myself
Chewed up like everyone else
Makes no difference what you thought
Or who you are. You still get caught
In the jaws of life.”

But for all that mangled experience, the song has a bounce that puts a spring in your step. As though McMurtry is reminding us that life takes a toll, but we’re all in it together.  Pull yourself together and try to saunter a little, even through the rough parts.

Some artists make one great record right away and then fade away. Others get consistently better with age. James McMurtry is the latter, and on “It Had to Happen” he is still growing into his greatness. Even so, there are still plenty of good tracks here to recommend it. Despite the hat.

Best tracks: Paris, Peter Pan, Stancliff’s Lament, Jaws of Life

CD Odyssey Disc 1306: James McMurtry

My friend (and hairdresser) today had the first of an inevitable series of “let’s get real” conversations about the state of my hair. Put bluntly, I’m starting to lose some of it. My think and curly locks hide the damage better than some unfortunates, but it isn’t a permanent solution. My hair is pretty damned important to me, so it’s hard news. At least it is still early stages.

Disc 1306 is… Childish Things

Artist: James McMurtry

Year of Release: 2005

What’s up with the Cover? James strikes a similar pose as my blog profile photo, only not in a cool way. Sorry James, but my sunglasses are more stylish, and I’ve got that hipster moustache in my favour as well. You can’t see it in the close-up, but my long curly hair is a match for James’ as well (at least for now). While I can’t remember specifics from the day the picture was taken, I’m confident my t-shirt was also nicer.

In James’ defence, he is a brilliant singer-songwriter with multiple albums under his belt. Me? I got nothin’. One unpublished novel and a bunch of music reviews.

How I Came to Know It: Just one of a number of James McMurtry albums that caught my attention earlier this year. To my shame, I think I ordered this one through Amazon. I try to shop locally, but occasionally I break down and conspire with convenience.

How It Stacks Up:  I have six James McMurtry albums. I don’t know them as well as I want to yet, making a final ranking difficult, but I know the top three, and “Childish Games” isn’t one of them. I’ll put it at #5 to give me some wiggle room for what’s left.

Ratings: 3 stars but almost 4

They say that country music is three chords and the truth. On “Childish Games” James McMurtry’s truth is filled with stark observation, quiet desperation and dreams gone to seed. It makes for an emotionally impactful record, but not a happy one.

McMurtry is a gifted storyteller, sometimes singing from a personal perspective, sometimes channeling through one of the many rough-edged characters he constructs.

It helps that he has such a great literary mind. The title track gets its title from 1 Corinthians 13. He uses the allusion to showcase the shift in our lives from youthful innocence to weary experience. The narrator begins the song believing in God, but not in ghosts, and ends with the reverse perspective.  

He is also a student of musical history. On “Slew Foot” he evokes Johnny Cash’s “Long Black Veil” with the familiar delivery of “…looked a lot like me” at the end of every chorus is clever without feeling strained. I didn’t love the song overall (it strays into corny in places) but it’s well constructed.

McMurtry also plays some solid guitar, and the blues-edge and liberal use of reverb puts some rock and roll balance against his country mosey. The rockabilly growl on “Old Part of Town” brings a little party jump to the record right where it’s needed.

The best track on the record though is the seven-minute opus to the death of the American dream, “We Can’t Make It Here Anymore.” If you ever want to understand the frustration of the lives of blue-collar folks eking out an existence in America’s rust belt, this is the song for you. There’re too many brilliant vignettes of misery to pick just one, so I’ll settle for the song’s summation:

“In Dayton Ohio or Portland Maine

Or a cotton gin out on the great high plains

That’s done closed down along with the school

And the hospital and the swimming pool

Dust devils dance in the noonday heat

There’s rats in the alley and trash in the street

Gang graffiti on a boxcar door

We can’t make it here anymore.”

“Memorial Day” is another standout, a demonstration of how McMurtry is a master of telling a narrative that is specific to one family’s holiday experience, but evocative of all. Like a master DJ, McMurtry has great landing lines that complete a melody, a rhyme and a stark truth. You can feel that last line coming like a train in the distance, and when it finally arrives it hits with full impact, like this:

“Daddy's in the big chair sippin' on a cold beer

Grandma's cuttin' a switch

She overheard Mary cussin' her brother

Called him a son of a bitch

She got a good green limb off a sweet gum sapling

Man that's bound to sting

“But Mary don't cry just stands there and takes it

Doesn't seem to feel a thing

No Mary don't cry, you know she's a big girl

Wonder what made her so mad

She takes those licks looking in through the den door

Staring right straight at her dad.”

The best part about these stanzas is how they tell half the story, and let your mind imagine the rest. I imagine there’s a whole host of complex relationships going on here, and more than a few secrets, but not even the sting of the switch is bringing it to light this Memorial Day.

For all of this brilliance, the album is a bit uneven in places. “See the Elephant” is supposed to capture childlike exuberance but it felt like a forced metaphor, and it doesn’t help it is the lead song on the record. “Holiday” is a great song, but it made for one too many ‘family gathering’ vignettes on a single album. I’d have saved this one for another record if I’d been in the control room.

Overall this is another James McMurtry classic. He won’t blow the doors off with his vocals, and he’s not pretty like some new country hunk, but he writes one hell of a story, and sings it in a way that makes you want to hear it multiple times over.

Best tracks: Childish Things, We Can’t Make It Here Anymore, Restless, Memorial Day, Old Part of Town

CD Odyssey Disc 1286: James McMurtry

I’ve had a pretty frustrating couple of days juggling various labour jobs I am not skilled enough to do myself. Three visits from tradespeople and every visit resulted in some unexpected complication. Argh! However, while the situations were annoying, the people involved were all great and once again reaffirmed my faith in that old Neil Peart line, “folks are basically decent, most of the time”.

Frustrated as I was, I went downtown this afternoon, ate five tacos at my favourite Mexican joint, and went CD shopping. This helped a lot. I found a couple good ones – the new Bleached record, and two very old Billy Idol records I only recently decided I wanted. Tonight they’ll help me forget that I’ll be spending the weekend without a kitchen sink.

Disc 1286 is… Saint Mary of the Woods

Artist: James McMurtry

Year of Release: 2002

What’s up with the Cover? A bunch of trees in the distance. I doubt these are the titular woods – they look more like what you might see lining a highway to keep the wind down or prevent soil erosion. Bo-ring.

How I Came to Know It: I did a deep dive of James McMurtry’s back catalogue recently, and this album was one of those that caught my attention.

How It Stacks Up:  I have six James McMurtry albums. I’ll rank “Saint Mary of the Woods” at #2. However, since I am still grokking a lot of McMurtry’s work, I reserve the right to adjust that spot up or down.

Ratings: 4 stars

James McMurtry is an average singer, an above-average guitar player and a brilliant songwriter. Put it all together and you get an album where the vocals have limited range, but the stories soar.

McMurtry isn’t a chart topper – I suspect his hard-hitting brand of alternative country is not welcome in mainstream Nashville. This can be a blessing in disguise, as these songs are not restricted by song length (most are five minutes or longer). McMurtry uses the time wisely, revealing the whole melody early on, then spending all that extra time telling a story.

Sometimes these songs are pure poetry, nestled into McMurtry’s easy guitar style. The songs aren’t technically complicated, but the guitar work is multi-layered and played with a rich tone and delicate touch, serving as an emotional backdrop for each verse. The title track is laden with powerful imagery, including:

“Sunrise off the lake shining in your eyes

Shining on the wasted and the wise

All you hear ringing in your ears are bald-faced lies

That scream like gulls in that smoke-stained amber sky.”

Mainstream country artists singing about “drinking beer/down by the pier/wishing you were here” can only dream of pulling together a quatrain like that.

Mostly, McMurtry paints amazing character studies. “Gulf Road” and “Gone to the Y” tell stories of rough-edged characters who have problems with drinking and a few other things besides. “Choctaw Bingo” is a family reunion where the family members brewing up whisky and meth, run red lights and shoot guns at night.

These are all great, but my favourite song makes the geography itself the character. “Out Here in the Middle” is a song that juxtaposes city values and country values. McMurtry doesn’t take a side, he just points out that life in each is different, and nowhere’s going to be perfect. It’s a song with an anthemic sway that makes you want to raise a glass and toast, even as it makes you uncertain of just what you’re celebrating.

The album mixes country styles with straight up blues, with varying degrees of success. Most of the songs that are steeped in a blues riff appealed to me less, but that is just personal preference. “Red Dress” was the exception. It is a blues track with grit to spare. McMurtry plays the part of a drunk and jealous husband watching his wife walk out the door in a sexy dress that he knows didn’t get put on for his benefit. Best line:

“Out the back and down the alley

Gone to get your bucket spiked

Come back when you think you need me

Come back any time you like.”

It’s a curious mix of slander, invective and capitulation.

“Saint Mary of the Woods” is a beautiful record, simple on the surface, deep and complicated underneath. It makes me excited for the next McMurtry album I’ll explore.

Best tracks: Saint Mary of the Woods, Out Here in the Middle, Red Dress, Gulf Road, Gone to the Y

CD Odyssey Disc 1254: James McMurtry

Game 1 of Bruins/Blue Jackets goes to the Bruins. All that excitement left me exhilarated, but a little drained. I’ve got enough left in the tank to pilot the Argo through another review in this CD Odyssey.

Disc 1254 is… Complicated Game

Artist: James McMurtry

Year of Release: 2014

What’s up with the Cover? Floorboards! Looks like a piece has been cut out just in front of the standing figure. What could someone be hiding in there? Stolen loot? A treasure map? The tell-tale heart?

How I Came to Know It: I discovered James McMurtry just a few months ago through his 2008 album “Just  Us Kids”. This precipitated a deep dive into his back catalogue. Five of his albums made the cut but “Complicated Game” wasn’t one of them.

Then I introduced my friend Mark to him. Mark liked it a lot and sent me “Copper Canteen”. It was a great song but I couldn’t find it on any of the five albums I had decided to get. A bit more digging found it on “Complicated Game”. I’d decided against that one after one listen, but this provided a second chance. This time I liked it a lot more, so thanks to Mark for this one!

How It Stacks Up:  I have five James McMurtry albums (I’m still on the hunt for “Childish Games”). I bought them all in the last few months and I don’t feel qualified to stack them up. I’ll guess it is in the middle and put it 3^rd, but don’t hold me to it – I just started on my James McMurtry journey.

Ratings:  4 stars

James McMurtry is down-home wisdom, served up through the lives of blue-collar heroes, scarred inside and outside, but soldiering on. The mix of Americana folk and traditional country on “Complicated Game” is the perfect delivery system for tales like these.

In terms of singing style, McMurtry sits solidly with Guy Clark and Steve Earle, with a splash of Warren Zevon on the songs with a rock edge. Like all those artists, McMurtry doesn’t have a massive vocal range, but he writes songs for the sweet spots in his voice, and he has a gravelly tone that is well-suited to storytelling.

McMurtry is sneaky-good on guitar, which he plays like he sings; raw and unhurried. His strum is strong and determined and sounds like it is being played on an old back porch or the end of a pier.

The record is replete with rural imagery that had me thinking back to my small town roots. The album starts you off with a jolt with these lines from “Copper Canteen”:

“Honey, don’t you be yellin’ at me when I’m cleanin’ my gun

I’ll wash the blood off the tailgate when deer season’s done.”

This could sound grim or threatening, but in the context of the song it’s just a little cantankerous. The narrator isn’t a murderer, and there’s no threat here either; he’s just taking care of his rifle and being careful about it. Later he gets out and shovels the walkway and chops firewood. Not sexy or dangerous, just important. That said, he really ought to wash the blood off the tailgate before it dries…

“Copper Canteen” shows an edge that is common to many of the characters you’ll encounter on “Complicated Game.” On “Carlisle’s Haul” poachers drop their nets illegally and are caught in the end by the warden, with McMurtry noting that tough times fall on criminal and cop alike in depressed resource towns. On “South Dakota” an ex-military man tries to make an honest life out of ranching, only to find his cattle frozen dead from a flash blizzard. Like “Carlisle’s Haul” the story ends with the arrival of the law, this time with the sheriff serving an eviction notice.

Even on the album’s love songs, things are complicated. “Copper Canteen” has a couple that has settled into mild disgruntlement, and “She Loves Me” includes a love affair, a divorce and a dream of reconciliation where you can’t tell if it’s based on deserved confidence or wishful thinking.

Through it all, McMurtry has a deep appreciation for the power of the specific in telling a story. These lines from “Long Island Sound” evoke an entire life in one small scene:

“I had a tire run low so I dug through the glove box

I needed the manual to locate the jack

I found a couple old picks and a 20-guage shot shell

Left from a dove hunt a couple year’s back.”

“Complicated Game” is an apt title for an album with so much uncertainty, but McMurtry draws a thick line of character through every track that makes you root for every rancher, rogue and romantic you encounter.

Even though this was my first deep dive into a James McMurtry album it felt like I was in the company of an old friend. I look forward to the rest of the journey. I might even give all those rejected albums a second chance in case they end up being as good as this one.

Best tracks: Copper Canteen, Ain’t Got No Place, Carlile’s Haul, South Dakota, Long Island Sound, Cutter