Country-influenced Rock: James McMurtry Live at Shank Hall, Milwaukee, WI, September 18, 2005

When James McMurtry released his debut album, Too Long in the Wasteland in 1989, I never would’ve predicted such guitar jams. McMurtry emerged from his dad’s shadow, author Larry McMurtry, with songs that told stories and wrapped melodies around those tales. Since then, McMurtry has honed his guitar skills, especially the electric, to become a unique singer/songwriter with chops to match the story arcs of his songs. Those skills were on display on September 18 at Shank Hall in Milwaukee.

Along with his band, the Heartless Bastards (Ronnie Johnson on bass and harmony vocals, Daren Hess on drums), McMurtry delivered nearly two hours of Country-influenced Rock fueled by the blues. Songs like “Saint Mary of the Woods” showed the tight trio jamming with Hess’ almost dance beat, Johnson’s soulful bas, and McMurtry’s guitar doing that rock blues. Each member does their own thing, and the music emerges as a combo sound.

Touring after the live album, Live in Aught-Three, you feel like you’re stepping inside that experience. If it felt like a paint by numbers performance, you wouldn’t want to step inside. But it doesn’t. It’s like opening up that CD jewel box and having the band materialize with stage, club, smoke, and beers. Now you’re here to soak it all in.

And it’s McMurtry’s signature brooding tales that really penetrate the surface. “Out Here in the Middle” describes the emotions through describing the setting (“There must be a cold front coming/Cause I saw the eastbound C&O/And the coal cars were dusty with a half-inch of snow”). Johnson’s bassline gives light to the dark song, and McMurtry is his own Bo Ramsey while singing a song on par with Greg Brown’s songwriting. Doing “Lights of Cheyenne” solo, it’s a newer song where you can still hear the core of what was at the beginning with the first album.

Dipping into Candyland, the second album, McMurtry plays “Safeside” where the rocking electric guitar sound started to emerge. Traveling back in time to Too Long, McMurtry brings that electric sense with him. “Too Long in the Wasteland” is an extended jam with a tag ending featuring a blazing solo from Holt. “I’m Not From Here” is grooved up and sped up.

Encouraging the crowd to leave their tables and chairs to dance, the Bible Belt-sensitive McMurtry said that it was a “denominational exempt concert. You can dance without going to hell.” Rather, he dedicated “Choctaw Bingo” to the Congregation of Crystal Meth of Southern Oklahoma. McMurtry is a redneck intellectual, understanding how to write a song like “Bingo” which is a redneck family tree with every quirk you can imagine. Knowing our dairy farmlands make good locations for crystal meth labs, the song’s not that far removed from any of us in Wisconsin.

Following “Bingo,” McMurtry and the Bastards launched into “We Can’t Live Here Anymore,” understated in its rocking compared to “Bingo” but clearly an angry song. The song’s intensity doesn’t come from the music; it’s the lyrics. Closed factories, lost jobs, drugs, minimum wage jobs, the poor get poorer, NAFTA screwed us all, and meanwhile, the leader of the free world stays in his limo. Released online earlier, it’s now available on Childish Things. It could be a good ol’ boy song that the acting good ol’ boy in the White House might appreciate—until he listened to the lyrics. Like Ronald Regan thinking he wanted Bruce Springsteen to sing on the White House lawn until he realized that he needed to walk out when he realized “Born in the U.S.A.” wasn’t just a flag waving patriotic anthem, so George W. Bush may be surprised if McMurtry’s song got on his iPod. Sounds like Texas country to me. . .what did he just say?

It’s been said that McMurtry isn’t normally political, and “We Can’t Live Here Anymore” marks a new side of his songwriting. Although it’s more accurate to say that he doesn’t often do such direct political commentary, preferring commenting on the world through stories. For instance, McMurtry introduced “60 Acres” by saying, “This is a song they forgot to play at Farm Aid today.” The song tells about trying to sell off the family land, because there’s more money in making a deal with Walmart.

The set included some songs from the September release, Childish Things. “Bad Enough” is a blues stomp that turns into a country rocker. “See the Elephant” about going to Richmond to see the traveling show has a mountain bluegrass flavor. Their cover of Peter Case’s “Old Part of Town,” originally recorded for a Case tribute album for Hungry for Music but also available on Childish Things, is country blues rock with a Smithereens turn on it.

The title track is a moving ahead rocker that asks some tough questions about what beliefs are childish, such as heaven or ghosts. Soundman and fourth Heartless Bastard Tim Holt joined the band on guitar, contributing a classic rock sensibility on his solo. Holt added guitar off and on throughout the set, ramping up the guitar sound as needed, although McMurtry lays out enough guitar to make you think that he’s always got an extra player up there.

McMurtry closed the evening solo with the new “Holiday” about the pleasantries of traveling for the holidays: seeing roadside memorials, truck drivers making a run, Granny trying to videotape the whole affair, or a soldier returning from the war. The melody rocks you like a lullaby, calming you even as the stories break your sheltered view of the world. McMurtry does his best to send us into the night contemplating the truth of the world while humming a fine tune.

Thanks to James McMurtry, Compadre Records, and Shank Hall, one of the Midwest’s most excellent venues, for their help.

Country-influenced Rock: West of Rome
Opening for James McMurtry was Madison’s West of Rome. Stripped down for the evening to a trio, Chris DeMay (acoustic guitar/harmonica) and Marc Alberts (keyboard) trade off lead vocals. Andrew Beaumont sits behind the drum set. It actually was a refreshing set up with Alberts’ keys keeping a bounce in the country swagger. West of Rome has the Band’s way of hinting at R&B while staying with country rock.

DeMay’s voice has a Dylan inflection while taking on a Bono appearance with his sunglasses. Alberts has much more of an R&B/60’s rock tone in his lead vocals. When they switch, it’s a little like how you get such a different sound on CSNY when Neil Young sung lead instead of David Crosby. Speaking of Neil Young, West of Rome has contributed a verison of “Winter Long” for a compilation celebrating Young’s 60th birthday. To be released by West of Rome’s label, Slothtrop, they played their rocking version of “Winter Long” with Alberts adding Willie Nelson-like backup singing.

Other elements appear in the Country Rock here. “Working Class Woman” and “Phases of the Moon” both start off sounding like Semisonic’s “Closing Time,” with “Woman” going towards a Bottle Rockets sensibility. Showing their varied influences, they closed their set with “Ziggy Stardust,” a surprising choice but one that countrified David Bowie just enough to make it their own.

West of Rome’s most recent release, Drunk Tank Decoy, comes with a bit more polish on that R&B/pop side of things, a production choice perhaps which has left them with a recorded work that doesn’t tap enough into DeMay’s Dylan-esque phrasing. Hopefully future albums will work more towards the balance of the live show’s sound.

Thanks to West of Rome and Slothtrop Music for their help.