The Washington Post sits down for some Mexican food and beer with Texas’ own James McMurtry appropriately titled “His Songs? Bleak. His Future? Bright.” McMurtry talks about his new release “Just Us Kids,” his growing popularity and the sorry state of America. A sample:
His lyrics focus on broken dreams and hard realities. “I tend to look at the dark cloud behind the silver lining,” he says. (The songwriter Robert Earl Keen says that when McMurtry sits down to write, it’s as if “another tragedy is about to unfold.”)
Whatever he is — bard in a bar band; songwriter’s songwriter; hell, writer’s writer (Stephen King will talk your ear off about him and called McMurtry “the truest, fiercest songwriter of his generation†ed) — McMurtry, at 46, has crafted one of the year’s best albums in “Just Us Kids,” which artfully mixes provocative portraits with political screeds, including the Bush-bashing “Cheney’s Toy.”
James McMurtry – Ruby & Carlos -Â the Granada Theater Dallas, TX
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKcsARfDmCk[/youtube]