James McMurtry..one of the greatest!

@mrjinks Thanks for the impression of his regular local venue. I've been considering a road trip to Austin and have kept his schedule in mind when planning. Also, I absolutely second your song recommendation. Because of this thread, a few days ago I began thinking about him and listening to his music again. Got me to do some research, too...

When not on tour he plays practically weekly (on Wednesday nights) at Austin's Continental Club. These are apparently very casual affairs and you can sample a set here.

I'm not deeply familiar with his catalogue -- just songs here and there -- but since first discovering "We Can't Make It Here" (video below, lyrics here), thanks to a mix CD from an industry friend, it has had periods where it was "front of mind" even when not "into ear." It's certainly resurged in my personal rotation for the last few years, but that's an altogether different story. Suffice it to say, if he only wrote this one song he'd probably be in my pantheon. Highly recommended for the uninitiated:

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Pulled this off his site just now. For the curious...

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I am a long time fan. Songs are great, awesome rock band. If you make me pick a favorite I will say "Levelland", "Out Here in the Middle", "Choctaw Bingo". I can't stop naming favorite songs.

 

Huge fan since the beginning. One of the best songwriters of the last 3o years. Where'd You Hide the Body is probably my favorite and Live in Aught Three is one of the best live records I've ever heard. Has a reputation of not being fan friendly and hard on the press but I interviewed him a couple years ago for my now defunct podcast but he couldn't have been nicer to me and my co-host. We even drank wine from stemware James fashioned himself from plastic water bottles . The writing genes run strong in that family as James son Curtis records and tours.

I would love to score a CD of the original version of Candyland with the deleted tracks Silent Alarm & Columbus Day. I had a copy of it on cassette but it's long since gone.

 

Just to clarify, when I said he was playing "here" tomorrow, I mean here in my town (Boise, not Austin). He comes through almost every year, and (unfortunately) tends to play a small grungy bar, with very little seating and ineffective a/c (if they have it at all)...

Huh? What? I would've been eagerly awaiting Candyland and would've likely bought it on release day (since his debut was a favorite a couple years prior). I've never heard of these songs and there's no variation listing them on discogs, either.

EDIT: learn something new every day. There's an (overpriced, IMO) cassette on ebay right now.

 

This original version of Candyland was only released to radio and retail (I was managing a store on the OSU campus which is how I came to acquire it) then the release was delayed and then those two tracks were swapped out when the record was released. Darn shame as Columbus Day is an amazing track.

 

Any resemblance to Memorial Day? Or is it just coincidence he's got a couple less-common US "holiday" songs?

 

Just a coincidence. Shame that it can't even be found on YouTube.