James McMurtry with Betty Soo
September 13 @ 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
“The simple fact is that James McMurtry may be the truest, fiercest songwriter of his generation…”
Stephen King in Entertainment Weekly
James McMurtry, the acclaimed singer, songwriter, and guitarist, began his interest in music at the age of seven when his father, novelist Larry McMurtry, gave him his first guitar. McMurtry’s mother, an English professor, taught him how to play it.
“My mother taught me three chords,” he recalls, “and the rest I just stole as I went along. I learned everything by ear or by watching people.”
After 20 years in rock, folk, and Americana, McMurtry’s most recent effort, “The Horses and the Hounds” (2021), backs personal narratives with effortless elegance and endless energy. The collection, which McMurtry says has “the ghost of Warren Zevon stomping around among the guitar tracks,” spotlights a seasoned tunesmith in peak form as he turns toward reflection and revelation.
He will be joined on the Avalon stage by Betty Soo, a world-class vocalist who “may well have the most gorgeous voice in Texas …if not in all contemporary folk – its purity and strength can be downright devastating.” (Acoustic Guitar)
