In 2003 (“aught three”), James McMurtry joined forces with Houston’s Compadre Records and released the universally praised Live in Aught-Three. This summer finds McMurtry back with his first studio album in more three years, Childish Things, due out September 6 on Compadre Records.
The new album features ten new McMurtry-penned tunes as well as covers of Peter Case’s “The Old Part Of Town” and the country standard “Ole Slew Foot.”
While Childish Things isn’t an overtly political record, the centerpiece has to be “We Can’t Make It Here,” McMurtry’s commentary on the current state of the union. “I've always been a little put off by activists. So you know it's a dire situation when I have to become one myself,” he explains. McMurtry made the song available as a free download on his website during the 2004 election. The response to the track was immediate and overwhelming and the song continues to be one of the most requested on stations across the country. Stephen King described the song as “stark and wrenchingly direct, this may be the best American protest song since (Bob Dylan’s) ‘Masters Of War.’” Childish Things marks the first time the track will be available on disc without FCC-sensitive words censored.
McMurtry will tour the U.S. for the remainder of 2005 and into next year in support of the album. He will appear at the nationally-televised Farm Aid concert in September.
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