Celebrated songwriter's highly anticipated new record marks his debut
on New West Records and garners a slew of "Best Of 2021" plus an
Americana Music Association Song Of The Year Nomination for "Canola
Fields" AUSTIN, Texas — In James McMurtry’s new effort, The Horses
and the Hounds, the acclaimed songwriter backs personal narratives
with effortless elegance (“Canola Fields”) and endless energy
(“If It Don’t Bleed”). This first collection in seven years, out
August 20, 2021 on New West Records, spotlights a seasoned tunesmith
in peak form as he turns toward reflection (“Vaquero”) and
revelation (closer “Blackberry Winter”). Familiar foundations
guide the journey. “There’s a definite Los Angeles vibe to this
record,” McMurtry says. “The ghost of Warren Zevon seems to be
stomping around among the guitar tracks. Don’t know how he got in
there. He never signed on for work for hire.” The Horses and the
Hounds is a reunion of sorts. McMurtry recorded the new album with
legendary producer Ross Hogarth (John Fogerty, Van Halen, Keb’
Mo’) at Jackson Browne’s Groovemaster’s in Santa Monica,
California, a world class studio that has housed such legends as Bob
Dylan (2012’s Tempest) and David Crosby (2016’s Lighthouse) as
well as Browne himself for I’m Alive (1993) and New Found Glory,
Coming Home (2006). McMurtry and Hogarth first worked together 30
years ago, when Hogarth was a recording engineer in the employ of John
Mellencamp at Mellencamp’s own Belmont Studios near Bloomington,
Indiana. Hogarth recorded McMurtry’s first two albums, Too Long in
the Wasteland and Candyland, for Columbia Records and later mixed
McMurtry’s first self-produced album, Saint Mary of the Woods, for
Sugar Hill Records. Another veteran of those three releases, guitarist
David Grissom (Joe Ely, John Mellencamp, Dixie Chicks), returns with
some of his finest work. Accordingly, the new collection marks another
upward trajectory: The Horses and the Hounds will be McMurtry’s
debut album on genre-defining Americana record label New West Records
(Steve Earle, Rodney Crowell, Lucinda Williams, John Hiatt, Aaron Lee
Tasjan, Buddy Miller, dozens more). “I first became aware of James
McMurtry’s formidable songwriting prowess while working at Bug Music
Publishing in the ’90s,” says New West president John Allen.
“He’s a true talent. All of us at New West are excited at the
prospect of championing the next phase of James’ already successful
and respected career.” McMurtry perfectly fits a label housing
“artists who perform real music for real people.” After all, No
Depression says of the literate songwriter’s most recent collection,
Complicated Game: “Lyrically, the album is wise and adventurous,
with McMurtry — who’s not prone to autobiographical tales —
credibly inhabiting characters from all walks of life.”
“[McMurtry] fuses wry, literate observations about the world with
the snarl of barroom rock,” National Public Radio says. “The
result is at times sardonic, subversive and funny, but often
vulnerable and always poignant.” His lauded storytelling — check
out songs such as “Operation Never Mind” and “Ft. Walton Wake-Up
Call” on The Horse and the Hounds— consistently has turned heads
for decades now. “James writes like he’s lived a lifetime,” said
John Mellencamp back in 1989, when Too Long in the Wasteland hit the
Billboard 200. “James McMurtry is one of my very few favorite
songwriters on Earth and these days he’s working at the top of his
game,” says Americana all-star Jason Isbell. “He has that rare
gift of being able to make a listener laugh out loud at one line and
choke up at the next. I don’t think anybody writes better lyrics.”
McMurtry’s albums Just Us Kids (2008) and Childish Things (2005)
back the claim, each scoring endless critical praise. The former
earned McMurtry his highest Billboard 200 chart position in two
decades (since eclipsed by Complicated Game) and notched Americana
Music Award nominations. Childish Things spent six full weeks topping
the Americana Music Radio chart in 2005 and 2006, and won the
Americana Music Association’s Album of the Year, with “We Can’t
Make It Here” named the organization’s Song of the Year. Other
accolades include a 1996 Grammy nomination for Long Form Music Video
for Where’d You Hide the Body and an American Indie Award for Best
Americana Album for It Had to Happen (1997). McMurtry tours year-round
and consistently throws down unparalleled powerhouse performances,
reflected in the release of two live discs: the universally lauded
Live in Aught-Three on Compadre Records, and 2009’s Live in Europe,
which captured the McMurtry band’s first European tour and
extraordinary live set. Along with seasoned band members Ronnie
Johnson, Daren Hess, and Tim Holt, Live in Europe features special
guests Ian McLagan (Faces) and Jon Dee Graham (True Believers,
Skunks). (Video of the performance is available on the included DVD.)
“Lyrically gritty, musically gutsy, go tell ‘em all…we need
James McMurtry bringin’ us more.” —Andrew Farrris, INXS “James
McMurtry may be the truest, fiercest songwriter of his generation”
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10/07/2025 Last update