James McMurtry live at the Birchmere in Alexandria, VA review

I’ve seen James McMurtry about a half dozen times so I know some of his banter by now. But he still always manages to throw a few curve balls into his solo shows. Such was the case at the Birchmere in Alexandria, VA on Saturday night.

After finishing his 15-song set, he returned to sing “Blackberry Winter” without the benefit of amplification. Just his guitar and his voice – no amp and no mic. He strolled around the stage like a minstrel, addressing each section of the 500 fans in attendance. It was a nice, intimate way to close out his show.

He had a few other treats in store. There was a new verse right in the middle of his most popular song – the epic “Choctaw Bingo.” This one focused on opioids and abandoned children, which in the hands of a lesser songwriter might get maudlin. In McMurtrey’s gruff baritone, it’s just one more acutely observed detail of the compelling characters who populate his songs.

James McMurtry keeps the audience off-balance and pleased live at the Birchmere

That encore number was the last track from McMurtry’s last album – 2021’s The Horses and the Hounds. But he teased that a new album with a powerful new song may be coming soon. He didn’t name it but I’m guessing when finally released it will be called “Sons of the Second Sons.” It should be called that, anyway.

It is another brilliant history lesson in the form of a song about the way in which European primogeniture engendered a grievance-charged social stratum that seems to have settled in a particular section of the new world. I’ll let you contemplate where he suggests you might find “Sons of the peasantry, telling ourselves we are free.”

That new album may be coming sometime next year, though as he noted “there’s no such thing as a release date until after it happens.” At least we have a bunch of outstanding older James McMurtry songs to keep us warm til whenever that new album drops.

James is the son of Larry, one of the USA’s finest novelists in the second half of the twentieth century. James has followed in his father’s footsteps to become among the best songwriters the country has in the new millennium. On Saturday, he spread things around, playing four songs apiece from The Horse and the Hounds and 2015’s Complicated Game as well as three songs each from earlier albums Just Us Kids and Saint Mary of the Woods.

He also seems to be going after his guitar a little harder than I’ve heard him in the past, especially when he picks up his 12-string and gets bluesy on a song like “Red Dress.” This was as spiky as I’ve ever heard “Choctaw Bingo” sound, with some of the fills approaching Richard Thompson territory.

McMurtry didn’t talk all that much during his set, but he did tell an interesting story about how his father once wrote a letter asking the Methodist Church to officially acknowledge that he was no longer a member. He also encouraged people from more advanced countries to tip their servers big since we haven’t yet developed enough as a country to pay servers a living wage. James McMurtry has never been one to shy away from political statements.

Before his solo encore, he was joined on stage for his last song by his frequent opening act BettySoo for a lovely duet on “Canola Fields.” She also accompanied him on guitar on that new as-yet-unnamed number. BettySoo was returning the favor since McMurtry had come out for her last three songs, playing guitar, and even singing on her final number. I suppose that was all right since the song was “Gulf Road,” one of McMurtry’s originals.

BettySoo told the crowd that her version of “Gulf Road” would be coming out on an album next year – a project that was helped along by McMurtry’s son Curtis, a singer and producer in his own right. BettySoo, who takes pride in the nickname her friends gave her – “queen of the bummer jams” – played songs with titles like “How to Live Alone,” “Down to Goodbye,” and “100 Different Ways of Being Alone.” 

Despite the depressing nature of her subject matter, BettySoo has a melodic sense and wit that makes sad songs sound good enough to sing along with. In fact, the few times she sang more standard, optimistic numbers, I think she lost a bit of her edge. BettySoo should sing all the songs she wants to about being alone because she’s really good at it.

And James McMurtry should sing anything he damn well pleases because he’s really good at that too. McMurtry continues touring up the East Coast for a few more dates in New Jersey, Connecticut, and Massachusetts before turning around and heading back down south, eventually landing in his native Texas toward the end of the month.

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