James McMurtry,
Childish Things



Label: Compadre Records

(3½ out of 5)

James McMurtry is a storyteller of epic proportions. Forsaking his Pulitzer Prize winning father's penchant for the romanticized West, he instead focuses on common folk, the marginalized and dispossessed at the periphery of modern society.

On Childish Things, his first studio album in three years, he imparts a quiet dignity to this silent American majority. And in the process McMurtry crafts a solid addition to the canon of workingman folk blues.

"We Can't Make it Here" has been garnering significant media attention and radio airplay since its introduction as an MP3 last October. And deservedly so, for it is a powerful social and political statement that poignantly captures blue collar frustration in this age of outsourcing and warmongering.

Strong though it may be, "We Can't Make It Here" (listen) may not even be the best song on the album. There is plenty of competition.

Other contenders include the through-the-looking-glass memories of "Memorial Day" (listen), the wistful title track (listen), the heartbreak of "Restless" (listen), the tuneful "Bad Enough" (listen), the fanciful "Charlemagne's Home Town" (listen), and the mournful "Holiday" (listen).

The beauty of a James McMurtry album is that it's relatively easy to find oneself depicted somewhere in the intricately-crafted lyrics. Listen carefully, and you're likely to find yourself mirrored in one of the sundry characters.

The downside is that such close attention is almost a requirement. The lyrics are rich indeed, more than worthy of the McMurtry name. But the music lacks great variation. If played as background music, the transitions between songs are virtually indistinguishable and the album may appear as a monotonous whole, with everything sounding the same.

But for those willing to invest themselves in the characters, the rewards are quite rich. The song-to-song differentiation is apparent to those who surrender their attention to the storyteller's imagination.

While it cannot equal the boundless energy of Live in Aught-Three, Childish Things ranks among McMurtry's best studio work since Too Long in the Wasteland.

Buy Childish Things from Lone Star Music for only $14.99.

September 6, 2005