Ok, so maybe he's an unknown legend... but next to Arlo, this guy is the shit!!! Strangely enough, he's a liberal too. At any rate, he's gonna be appearing on Austin City Limits this Saturday (the 13th)... check your local PBS stations for show times.

If you ain't never heard him before:

http://www.compadrerecords.net/audio/We_Cant_Band.mp3

http://www.compadrerecords.com/download ... nsored.mp3

If nothin else, figured all you other liberal folks out there would get a kick outta these...

I'd rather have a liberal amount of freedom, and a conservative amount of government intrusion into my life. I guess I'm just out of touch.

adg

Now, adg, don't go rattlin' the wizard's cage (even though most of us here are in your camp)! We need guys like him to run the trains on time and keep these websites humming! By the way, I hear the pres is going to speak for 18 mins. and 20 secs. (or more) on the war tonight. It'll be in four-part harmony with Cheney, Rice, and his parrot, Tony Snow.


mikey

OK... we need the Wiz for the website... but it's guys like us... (JohnC) who keep the trains running on time!

I saw him live once. He was the opening act for Arlo in Va Beach in 1989. It was at the Va Beach Ampitheatre. He was really good & so was Arlo. This would've been the Wiz's dream show. I wonder if Arlo remembers that that show. I remember James McMurtry sang a song called Paint By Numbers. Why I remember this when I have a bad memory I dunno. Don't worry Wiz, we're still a conservative. Thanks Arlo for sharing your thoughts on here...

Saw him years ago in Austin when he was just starting out - great show f what I remember....

Choctaw Bingo, what a great song, he is coming to Baltimore with Dave Alvin soon! Yea!

I think adg has it about right, as almost always.

Dave, you little shit, you know we still need and love you!

i'd never heard of him 'til i got all tumbled around in one of psb's rants! (love ya man... and don't give me a hard time about it!!)
"we can't..." are the first lyrics i remember seeing i think...it's kind of a blur...anyway, i couldn't link up with the ones you posted dave (musta got lost) but found this...

http://www.pbs.org/klru/austin/artists/ ... ySong.html

Aww... ya'll know that I just like rattlin people up from time to time, lol!!!

Don't anyone let this out... but when it comes to politics... I'm actually a centrist... you know what the republicans USED to be. Frankly, I'm definantly all for the government staying out of our lives for the most part. I'm actually for LESS government except when it comes to the issue of defense. And that's partly because if the defense budget dries up, my life gets harder... working for the Naval Surface Warfare Center and all.

Yeah, I saw James is gonna be in the area... unfortunantly... my financial situation doesn't allow for it. Especially with the prices at places like the Rams Head and Birchmere going up considerably from what they used to be.

So, I'll just be watching on PBS. Hmmm... maybe I shoulda posted this on topical with the turn this thread has taken (which I knew it would, lol).

Wyld - very funny about the trains... You and John take care of the trains and I'll keep my finger on the big red button...

Again, don't say anything... but I kinda agree with James' songs... and Arlo's point... first one who calls me a damn liberal though and the missles will be a flyin!!!

And actually, the first time I saw this guy was when he opened a show for Arlo YEARS ago (his first album had JUST come out)... in Baltimore I think. I was hooked from that point on, so once again, it's all Arlo's fault!

Actually James McMurty puts on a hell of a great show. If you have never seen him perform live, expect the show to start off with him walking slowly on stage with his baseball cap cocked backwards as if he was some roadie looking for that cigarette he just dropped. He walks over to the guitars, all 50 of them (lol) and just straps one on as if he has no care in the world. Suddenly the rest of the band joins him and straps their instruments on. Without even acknowledging the crowd he looks around and starts hitting a few notes. He has a look on his face that makes one think that maybe he doesn't want to be there. And slowly the band starts picking it up. Before you know it the show is on and two hours later it's just coming to an end. And you realize that you just saw one kick ass show. I saw him a few months back at Threadgills here in Austin, Texas and he came on stage at 10:00pm and didn't stop playing to almost 12:45am. It was amazing. With the exception of maybe Freddie Krc, James works harder than anyone else in Austin. And his live shows are legendary in their own Austin, Texas way. I always feel the same way at a Ray Wylie Hubbard or Hayes Carll show also. Like I got my moneys worth. And in this day and age, that means alot. But what makes James McMurty, Hayes Carll and Ray Wylie Hubbard's live shows so good...is that they all have great bands. And if you ever catch them live you will go back for more. It's an addiction that I don't mind having. I do not know how James' live act will go over on television so don't soley judge him on that. See him perform live. It's well worth it.

Don't worry we'll never call a fellow conservative a liuberal. Actually I consider myself a slightly liberal conservative cuz even tho I agree with most of the conservatives, I am anti-nam & see nothing wrong with hippies...

Dray definantly has it right... his shows are awesome. It's much like Arlo in that his albums don't do justice to the live performances... even the live albums! And I love the way he'll take an older song and do a completely new arrangement of it. Funny thing is, I recorded one of his shows back in '01 or '02 at the Rams Head in Annapolis and when I played it back, it sounded great - but for some reason just lacked the same spark of seeing him perform live. I'm not sure what it is... but you really have to see him live to fully appreciate.

The venue I saw him at had these "table tents" that said no dancing, and please be quiet, etc. James proceeded to tell everyone they could just ignore those - and that they did in fact make nice paper airplanes...

Jeez!!!...I missed James. I wish I'd known about it sooner, but I just now read this thread.....

Hey!....I got a gift card for a local record store for Christmas. I went today & got A DVD by Towns Van Zant...Some of you must know of his work!...It's awesome!!...I'd been wanting to learn more about him, so this is a good start. I know he was a big influence on Steve Earl, Lyle Lovet, and Nancy Griffith.....

Alrighty then.....Wish I'd seen PBS Sat......Peace, Love & Sweet Dreams!!
Mike

I went to Farm Aid 2005 in Chicago/Tinley Park, Illinois. James was the third or fourth act out there, following a fantastic folk singer named Katie Voegel, Colin Peterson and the Second Ammendments (a band of all congressmen......they weren't so great), and Jimmy Sturr and his Polka Orchestra. James came out, just like you said, lookin like a roadie and completely outa place. His band joined in, and suddenly the house was a-rockin. He was easily the best performer of the B-listers (it was a slow show until Arlo hit the stage, then got dull for a while until Buddy Guy and John Mayer came out and got the blues mojo juices flowin). James is great, though. One of the real gems of modern rock. Shame he doesn't get more media attention.