Give credit to the songwriters who can look beyond obvious song topics and find inspiration in surprising places. For James McMurtry, one of the best songwriters of this era, even a traffic jam can ...

Austin’s James McMurtry writes songs with the richness of novels, his characters struggling through life’s trials in vignettes sculpted as vivid as the world in front of your eyes. Touring in support ...

James McMurtry has been known to refer to himself as a "beer salesman." His job is to draw people to bars and clubs and midsize venues that book him and his band. He puts on a show. If people want to ...

SANTA CRUZ — James McMurtry knows exactly when the time is right to make a new album: When the tours start winding down, that is when he gets into the studio. “That’s kind of what drives it nowadays,” ...