Pickin' James McMurtry x Mile 0 Fest

Over the course of an incredibly jam packed week of music at Mile 0 Fest, we got to interview several phenomenal songwriters & performers in a low-key, personal space. Our final artist spotlight in our 4 part series is James McMurtry, a living songwriting legend & purveyor of introspective thinking through lyrical composition.

The remainder of this article format will be different than the previous 3 simply because of the experience. We'll begin with one of McMurtry's Mile 0 Fest sets & continue on to our sharing of cheeses over when's & why's.

I'd like you to come along on a cold January afternoon in Key West with James, Betty Soo, & I.

The Sunset Pier stage could have well been a limb jutting out into a tornado, holding an audience in its grip between gusts of frigid wind & the grayness of a winter day. But on the open stage, James McMurtry & his crew made light work of the less-than-ideal weather. As the packed crowd shivered in bundles of last minute long sleeved tourist merchandise, McMurtry picked his guitars with seasoned hands & not the slightest hint of un-comfortability. 

"It was excellent," McMurtry said. "It was exactly a 1 hour set in pretty cold weather, & nothing went wrong. Today I noticed if I turned a certain way, I could keep the guitar body blocking the wind on my hand which helped a lot."

His band continued on, playing hits like Choctaw Bingo & Levelland that the dedicated audience sung along to. With McMurtry's vast discography, not one or two-- but SIX-- guitars were needed to switch sound throughout the set. The collection of eclectic instruments sat on the stage in full display like additional members of the band rather than hiding in a guitar vault side stage with an anxious stage hand running them back & forth. It's sort of like an art display for musician eyes to take in & behold.

"Right now, my favorite in that arsenal is an Epiphone Es 339," McMurtry said. "A friend of mine has a little shop in Lockhart, Texas where I live. I wandered in there one day & saw the guitar on the wall. I tried playing it, & I liked it. I had been playing a PRS for my main guitar for awhile. This guitar, the 339, gives me a little more tonal variation. It's got individual volume knobs for each pickup & coil taps on 'em so I can get a bunch of different combinations. It just seems to speak better. It works with that box ac3 very well."

It's abundantly clear when McMurtry plays or speaks on his instruments there's a certain appreciation or respect for the inanimate vessels of sound; he almost personifies them, as do many artists who produce emotions through displaying their medium.

"I just stumbled upon that [tone of the 339], I wasn't looking for it specifically," McMurtry said. "[The 339] has a little more on low end. I get a nice kind of warmth on the low end, but it still cuts up top. So it defines the notes real well."

"only for you"

Once the set was finished & the crowd clapped their wind burnt hands in appreciation, McMurtry & his crew loaded up their gear swiftly & methodically. Like magicians, the band disappeared into the galley of the pier with their instruments while McMurtry was left to the awaiting wolves (kind hearted fans who wanted pictures). He donned his iconic scowl & continued on with photos. One boy no older than 11 flagged McMurtry down at the base of the pier (so close to sweet freedom), asking for an autograph, who he responded with "only for you" & made lighthearted conversation with the visibly excited young man.

Guitar stands & drum gear in hand, I followed McMurtry & his band to the van for our escape to the hotel across the island. McMurtry had his mind set on finding some guayaberas (that's Cuban style button down shirts for those of you who have to google that like I did), so we embarked on getting the gear back with enough time for an interview & good thrifting day. 

Unique to any interview experience I've had before, the entire band basically vetted me on the drive. McMurtry asked about my hometown, the drummer about my university time, Betty on architectural appreciation; the interviewer turned interviewee, which makes sense when having a total stranger in your van bench seat, gripping someone's copy of "Celine, Journey to the End of Night" like an emotional support blanket. No one called me on it though.

Once the band of audibly hungry musicians departed the van, Betty, McMurtry, & I made our way up to the hotel room for a little sit down charcuterie over Q&A. Betty sat like a great tailed grackle on the carpeted floor, tweeting in her soft voice with bright commentary. McMurtry sat across from me in a desk chair, slicing an apple with a buck knife while splitting cheese cubes & grapes with me. His signature grimace could almost scare you while holding a pocket knife if I hadn't just seen his smile from mine & Betty's senseless small talk.

We began with some gentle prodding: "Are you being facetious?" I asked McMurtry when he sarcastically responded to my we're gonna get to know the why behind the songs opening line-- to which he slyly side smiled & said "I don't know, guess we'll see." And just like that, all the intense prep work I prepared for this interview & mountain of in-depth questions I had noted down were immediately thrown out of the windows of my mind.

"An otter comes to mind first & foremost," McMurtry said when choosing an animal he'd like to be. "I don't know why. They seem to have a good time. I like free flowing rivers. I like to fish in rivers & creeks. I've seen the occasional otter, but they're pretty scarce around central Texas. One or two do show up though."

As soon as we got THAT out of the way (definitely thought he'd say coyote so that was a nice head tilting moment), we focused more on what started McMurtry's established career & how he's been successful for so long.

"Kris Kristofferson was really sort of the model for songwriters, the first artist ever identified to me as a songwriter," McMurtry said. "I was about 9 years old. Up until that point, I never put any thought into where songs came from. I wanted to be Johnny Cash when I grew up. I didn't know if he wrote any of his stuff. I didn't care."

McMurtry's first concert experience was at 7 years old, seeing Johnny Cash, The Carter Family, Carl Perkins, & the Statler Brothers. His second show was Kristofferson with Donnie Fritts & Steve Bruton.

"They were just having a blast," McMurtry said. "That's when I saw it for real. That's when I said I want to do THAT when I grow up."

McMurtry's first album Too Long in the Wasteland debuted in 1989, beginning his 3 decade long touring lifestyle & solidifying a career longevity as a songwriter.

"When I started recording, the business model was you put your record out & you tour to support record sales," McMurtry said. "You spend all kinds of money on tour trying to get people to buy the record. The object was to sell enough records that the album would recoup its recording cost & its promotional cost, & you can live off the royalties. That never happened to me, so I had to figure out how to tour fairly cheaply. It was pretty obvious I was going to have to make money off the road. We figured it out & that's a good thing."

With the integration of services like Napster & Spotify, record sales no longer generated livable royalties for artists. This created a shift where artists had to learn to make a living on the road where McMurtry's camp had already found what works & didn't for their tours. 

"If we didn't tour, what would I do?"

"Eventually there comes a point if you tour enough during a record cycle, you're going to run out of road," McMurtry said. "You're gonna get to a point where you can't go back to the markets you've just been to because they're already saturated. So you have to stop. We ran out of road sometime last October & just had to stay home for awhile. It was actually good. It's like the cliche 'make hay while the sun shines.' You can't stop touring 'til the situation dictates that you have to stop. Touring is exhausting, but it's also rejuvenating sometimes. It's what we do. If we didn't tour, what would I do?"

McMurtry described touring like an easy, already planned schedule. You're working 6 days a week & normally using a Monday for travel days. But I can attest that with months long of turning wheels in the same directions, when you come to a stop the phantom anxiety of inertia still lingers.

"You don't have to make decisions, your day is totally structured," McMurtry said. "Then you get home & you have to make decisions. Are you gonna fix that air conditioner this week?" Betty giggles in the background, owning two houses that she tends to off tour. 

With the constant stasis of musicianship being movement, the slow times give way to overthinking & loud minds. As a writer myself, I was curious if McMurtry ever feels like he's ran out of words or thoughts, nothing left to string along into a pretty melody.

"I put off my homework until it's necessary. I put off my songs until it's time to make a record," McMurtry said. "I got more words than I know what to deal with or how to deal with right now. I've lost a laptop full of lyrics recently, but that hadn't really stopped me. I've got enough lyrics & choruses turning through my head that I've forgotten. Every now & then they bubble up out of the ether & I'm like yeah, I remember that song, but I probably won't finish any of them until the next recording."

The Black Dog & the Wandering Boy

Exciting news for us, the next recording is The Black Dog & the Wandering Boy, set to appear mid-April. 

"I took the title after my father passed away," McMurtry said. "My stepmother said 'did Larry ever tell you about his hallucinations?' & I said no. 'Did he ever tell you about that black dog & the wandering boy?' I said no. So the song's not really about him, but I took the hallucinations & I gave them to another fictional character. There's that & about 7 more originals & a couple of covers & calling it a record."

Being known for his songwriting & having just told me he has too many words to deal with, the thought of McMurtry adding covers to his album deeply intrigued me. Why covers & what about these songs moved him in a way that he'd want to play them himself?

"We did Kristofferson's Broken Freedom Song, Betty Soo & I sang on it," McMurtry said. "Also, it starts with a cover of Jon Dee Graham's Laredo."

With the new record releasing in April, McMurtry's touring schedule is heavy as expected. He'll be touring through May, having over 30 dates through 17 states listed on his website. You can catch Texas shows February 14th & 15th in Winnsboro, 22nd in Dallas, & 28th in New Braunfels before he's headed out of state. We hope to you get to experience the lovely vocals from Betty Soo & superb songwriting from McMurtry at a venue near you; but we're sure he won't be shaking the tour bug any time soon.

"I wouldn't want to shake it," McMurtry said. "I'm having a pretty good time."

As always, thank you to Mile 0 Fest for having such a star-studded lineup for this year's festival. A thank you as well to James for his time, Betty Soo for her softly lit room & snacks, & Julie for her introduction. Readers, if you have a McMurtry story you'd like to share or any words you'd like to give, our comments section is always available!