James McMurtry

Born in Fort Worth in 1962 and largely raised in Leesburg, Virginia, James McMurtry developed a songwriting approach rooted in the American South and West, between roots rock, folk rock, alternative country and Americana. After beginning to perform his own songs in Tucson and then in Texas, he was noticed in 1987 at the New Folk competition of the Kerrville Folk Festival, before releasing Too Long in the Wasteland in 1989, a debut album co-produced by John Mellencamp. McMurtry followed with Candyland (1992), Where’d You Hide the Body (1995), It Had to Happen (1997), Walk Between the Raindrops (1998) and Saint Mary of the Woods (2002), then settled into a tight-band format characterized by spare guitar and a near-spoken vocal. His repertoire rests on precise narratives populated with characters, roads, small towns and social tensions, with constant attention to everyday detail. Long present on Texas and Americana stages, he has also crossed paths with musicians such as Joe Ely and Guy Clark. His discography continues with Childish Things (2005), Just Us Kids (2008), Complicated Game (2015) and The Horses and the Hounds (2021).