Monday, December 6, 2021

James McMurtry: “The Horses And The Hounds” (2021) CD Review

Time is flying. I can’t believe it’s been more than six years since James McMurtry’s last full-length studio release, Complicated Game. But it’s true. That album came out before the terrible year of 2016. Imagine that. His new album, The Horses And The Hounds, features all original material, written or co-written by James McMurtry. And it features the work of some talented musicians backing him, including David Grissom and Kenny Aronoff, both of whom are known for their work with John Mellencamp (who, by the way, was the first artist I ever saw in concert, back when he was still John Cougar). The album was produced by Ross Hogarth, who has also worked with John Mellencamp, among many other artists. In addition to Grissom and Aronoff, the musicians backing James McMurtry here include Charlie Sexton on guitar and bouzouki; Sean Hurley on bass; Daren Hess on drums; Stan Lynch on percussion; Harry Smith on mandolin, banjo and slide guitar; John McFee on banjo; Bukka Allen on organ, keyboards and accordion; Red Young on organ; Loren Gold on piano and organ; John Gilutin on keyboards and piano; Stephen Barber on organ; and Cameron Stone on cello. Backing vocals are provided by Betty Soo, Harmoni Kelley, Akina Adderly, and Randy Garibay, Jr. The photo gracing the cover of the liner notes booklet shows James McMurtry in a mask. Someday maybe all these pandemic releases will seem strange to us.

James McMurtry is so skilled at setting scenes and telling stories with compelling characters, with a voice that is perfect for tales, and he demonstrates that skill on this album’s first track, “Canola Fields.” Check out these lyrics: “Second best surfer on the central coast/Had you wrapped up all the way back to Los Gatos/And I could’ve cut his throat/And it wasn’t like we were an item to start with.” What an excellent track to pull us into James McMurtry’s section of the world. I love these lines: “I heard you switched coasts, moved in with your sister/I doubt you’d have called it familial bliss/We met up in Brooklyn before it went hipster/You carried your keys in your fist.” This track also has a short, but really good instrumental section in the second half. Then with “If It Don’t Bleed,” he takes on a confessional bent with lyrics like “I never had a fear and I never had a doubt/If I’d had a lick of sense, I’d have figured that out pretty fast/But I wasn’t any smarter than the average kid.” Yet his songs are not really autobiographical. He mostly delivers character songs, sometimes sung from the character’s perspective. “I never saw the future fading right into the past.” But there is no regret in his voice. He’s just relating the truth, telling us his story, and connecting to us, particularly in the chorus, where he addresses us directly, “Save your prayers for yourself/I raise my glass to your health/I don’t mind if you don’t look like me/I can share my bread and wine.” There is a sense of humor about this, and perhaps because of that there is something almost uplifting here. And this song has one of the best lines about aging that I’ve heard: “There is more in the mirror than there is up ahead.”

“Operation Never Mind” is an interesting song about recent wars in various deserts, about the working class folks who did the fighting, and about how our perceptions are based on media coverage or a lack thereof. “The country boys will do the fighting/Now that fighting’s all a country boy can do.” James McMurtry creates another strong character in “Jackie.” “Faithful’s a nice word in Sunday school class/Life’s just too crazy for that.” Indeed. Long before the song’s end, we can sense that she isn’t going to make it through it. Cameron Stone plays cello on this track, adding to its beauty and sense of loss. “Decent Man” also creates a character who is not doing well, and who has caused harm, this one told from the person’s perspective. “And if the truth be known, I wasn’t doing that well/I wasn’t paying attention, I brought it on myself/And I blamed it on the gods that seemed to smile on everybody else/I got so inside out, I didn’t know what was real.” We know early on that he’s not going to come to a good end. The song’s most depressing and powerful line is about his daughter visiting him: “I don’t know how she even stands to look upon her daddy’s face.” I also love that the song doesn’t pretend to have any answers. That’s followed by “Vaquero,” a song written in memory of Bill Witliff, the screenwriter who wrote the Lonesome Dove miniseries, an adaptation of Larry McMurtry’s novel. Some of the song is sung in Spanish, and it features Bukka Allen on accordion. There is something beautiful and moving about this song.

“The Horses And The Hounds,” the album’s title track, is a powerful and intense of song of a man on the run. It was written by James McMurtry and David Grissom. Here is a taste of the lyrics: “Sister says to come on back for Christmas/Mama’s wondering why I never come around/Lord, I’ve been running for so long I just can’t find a way back home.” That’s followed by “Ft. Walton Wake-Up Call,” one that grabs me immediately, the way the lyrics are delivered, the way the story comes at us, at a quick pace, yet sort of like spoken word. The first line is “She woke up mad, she’s trying to pick a fight.” That first line is a hook, like the first line of a really good short story. The chorus then comes as something of a surprise, the line “I keep losing my glasses” repeated a few times. I have to remember to play this for my girlfriend, who does keep losing her glasses. This is one of my favorite tracks, in part because of the way it addresses this strange reality we have all found ourselves trapped in these days, how that reality becomes part of the landscape, part of the background, as we deal with things on a more personal level, as we hear in the chorus.

“What’s The Matter” mentions a phone in its first lines. Yeah, our cell phones have become so bloody important. Sure, they are convenient, but they are also a pain in the ass. I have several moments every day where I am tempted to throw the thing against a wall or off a bridge. Anyway, those first lines are “The phone’s on the dash, the goddamned thing/It’s one of those times when I know it’s gonna ring/Don’t want to answer, but I got no choice.” And I love this song’s chorus, which is simply, “What’s the matter/What’s the matter now?” There is certainly some humor there, but that chorus is also indicative of the current state of things, isn’t it? Yes, it’s about one person who seems to always have some trouble to relate, but in the larger scene, every day does seem to bring us fresh hells. And it’s exhausting, both to hear it from someone and to live it, to feel it ourselves. Then the opening line of “Blackberry Winter,” the album’s closing song, is “I don’t know what went wrong.” This one, however, has a mellower mood, dealing with someone suffering from depression, and trying to help. The line “Leave the rocks on the road, stay away from the river Virginia” makes us think of Virginia Woolf’s demise, which was dramatically portrayed in the film version of The Hours. “And I found the letter you left at the foot of the stairs/And I heard the horn blow, the train’s pulling out/I hope you find somebody there to tell you no.”

CD Track List

  1. Canola Fields
  2. If It Don’t Bleed
  3. Operation Never Mind
  4. Jackie
  5. Decent Man
  6. Vaquero
  7. The Horses And The Hounds
  8. Ft. Walton Wake-Up Call
  9. What’s The Matter
  10. Blackberry Winter

The Horses And The Hounds was released on August 20, 2021 on New West Records, his first album on that label.

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