Last night, the great James McMurtry brought his brand of robust rock ‘n roll slash country tunes to the Granada Theater in Dallas. This was my first time to see McMurtry perform live. And, for that matter, I am relatively new to the James McMurtry scene altogether. So, I did not know exactly what to expect. My knowledge of McMurtry’s catalog was limited to Choctaw Bingo, Peter Pan and We Can't Make It Here. He did not disappoint his, what appeared to be, very loyal fan base. The high water mark occurred when McMurtry played Choctaw Bingo. The audience grew rowdy and raucous for this ten minute rendition. I was sucked in too, it‘s a really cool sounding song. All in all, it was a good show. However, McMurtry seemed to lose me with a couple of politically spiked tracks which got rise from most of the audience. In addition, McMurtry’s incessant need to tune his guitars between what seemed like every song wore me thin. I walked away from the show intrigued by McMurtry's unique sound and witty, sometimes comical, lyrics. More research into his catalog is needed. So, after seeing the show I was moved to download Levelland and two cuts from his most recent release, "Just Us Kids,"
the title track and Ruby and Carlos.myspace )( download
Phil Pritchett kicked things off for the evening. I thought the band sounded pretty good. They were a little more "rock" than I remembered from my last Pritchett show several years ago in college. He ended his set with his noted song, Maria. I have heard the song perfomred better, but it was still good. Pritchett advised the audience that his band is completely independent including recording and selling their albums. All of the band's albums are available for $4ea download at their website.
website )( download
The latest album from the Old 97's, Blame it on Gravity, will be released on May 13, 2008. Today Rhett Miller will be playing a solo show at the Hiro Ballroom in New York City. The show will feature several new songs from the Old 97's upcoming release. The Old 97's will be preforming at the House of Blues in Dallas on May 31st. You can listen to some tracks from the new album on their myspace page.
It was a great show, just Colin, an acoustic guitar and a bottle of red wine. Colin admitted that he was suffering from a cold but that did not effect his voice. He played songs from his new album including, We Both Go Down, Engine Driver, and On the Bus Mall.
is the most recent release from the band. It has been one of my favorite albums for several months. Top to bottom, it’s great. It ranges from fast to slow, soft to hard and acoustic to electric and horns. My favorite cuts are A Hand to Take Hold of the Scene and Our Life Is Not a Movie or Maybe. The band played an outstanding encore performance of Unless It's Kicks. “The Stage Names” is quite a contrast to the other album I have, “Black Sheep Boy.” Most of the cuts on “Black Sheep Boy” seem slow and sort of whiney. So, I really enjoyed the show when the bankd played cuts from “The Stage Names” album. They are great entertainers.