4. "We Can't Make It Here" While this track was released during George W. Bush's presidency (McMurtry attended boarding school in Virginia with his younger brother), the seeds for it were sown during the Clinton years, when free trade shipped scores of middle-class jobs to cheaper foreign shores. Virtually every other line makes you tingle with anger and determination, and it's the rare protest song that never seems dated.
3. "Broken Bed" McMurtry is known for being a brilliant lyricist whose melodies function mainly as vessels for his words, but this track--about a relationship that's past its breaking point -- is as infectious, simple and danceable as they come.
2. "St. Mary of the Woods" The complex title track off McMurtry's best album speaks to the frustration of not being able to eclipse a certain level of notoriety. But the highlight here is McMurtry's intricate picking amidst several instrumental buildups; as his Austin Continental Club gig-mate Jon Dee Graham says, "He's a monster guitar player."
1. "Choctaw Bingo" "I write what I see through the windshield," says McMurtry, and he's not kidding. At the root of his songwriting prowess is a keen eye for detail, and no song -- by anyone, really -- is more representative of the fruits of such an approach as this Midwestern meth-head masterpiece, which Graham regards as "architecturally amazing."
HONORABLE MENTION
"No More Buffalo" "Hurricane Party" "Ruby & Carlos" "Lights of Cheyenne" "Red Dress" "Charlemagne's Home Town" "Six-Year Drought" "Levelland" "Rachel's Song" "Where'd You Hide the Body"
James McMurtry plays two sets (7 and 9:30 p.m.) Saturday night at McGonigel's Mucky Duck, 2425 Norfolk. See mcgonigels.com for ticket information.
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