At the latest since Bob Dylan’s hymns on John Prine have been known that even gifted songwriters occasionally look up to guild colleagues. The Texas Troubadour James McMurtry can show prominent younger supporters like Jason Isbell (who is also immortalized in the song “Sailing Away” on The Black Dog and the Wandering Boy), but is not too bad, his eleventh album with a cover song from Jon Dee Graham’s “LAREDO (Small Dark Something) ”and Kris Kristofferson’s“ Broken Freedom Song ”.
McMurtry’s own material does not fall off between the tribute corner stones. The spirit of Warren Zevon is just as present as Steve Earle or Driveby Truckers when McMurtry and his accompanying tape, which has been established for ten years, blends in the dividing lines between blues and roots rock, folk and Americana in the sand.
In terms of content, the view of the 63-year-old sprout from (screenplay) author Larry McMurtry (“The Last Picture Show”, “Brokeback Mountain”) is no less sharp. So you can look forward to exquisite stories and have become a short stories that have been populated by aging law engines, 9/1 11-back, a post-pubertal gambler-Pinocchio or the record-creating hallucinations of his father.
You can find out which albums were published in June 2025 via our monthly publication list.