| James Mcmurtry |
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James's father gave him his first guitar at age seven. His mother, an English professor, taught him how to play it: "My mother taught me three chords and the rest I just stole as I went along. I learned everything by ear or by watching people." BIOGRAPHY James was raised mostly in Leesburg, Virginia , began performing writing song fragments in his teens, and started performing his own songs at a downtown beer garden while studying English and Spanish at the University Of Arizona in Tucson . After traveling to Alaska and playing a few gigs, James returned to Texas and his father “Larry’s little bitty ranch house crammed with 10,000 books.” After a time, he left for San Antonio, where he worked as a house painter, actor, bartender, and sometimes singer. In 1987 , a friend in San Antonio suggested he enter the New Folk Songwriter Contest . He was one of six winners that year. John Mellencamp was starring in a film based on a script by James's father, which gave James the opportunity to get a demo tape to Mellencamp. Mellencamp subsequently served as co-producer on McMurtry's 1989 debut album, Too Long In The Wasteland . McMurtry also appeared on the soundtrack of the film Falling From Grace , working with Mellencamp, John Prine , Joe Ely , and Dwight Yoakam in a "supergroup" called Buzzin' Cousins. McMurtry release follow-up albums in 1992 and 1995 . "Walk Between the Raindrops" followed in 1998 and 2002 brought "St. Mary of the Woods." In April 2004 , Compadre Records released a tour album called "Live In Aught-Three". In 2005, McMurtry released his first studio album in 3 years. "Childish Things" again received high critical praise. The album was perhaps McMurtry at his most political, as his working-class anthem "We Can't Make It Here" included direct criticism of George W. Bush , the Iraq War , and Wal-Mart . James McMurtry currently resides in Austin , Texas . EXTERNAL LINKS |