James McMurtry – Walk Between The Raindrops
James McMurtry, stand-up comic? Well, not exactly, but the melancholic singer-songwriter actually has a funny little ditty, “Airline Agent”, on his new album, Walk Between The Raindrops. Previously, McMurtry’s wry wit tended to be hidden by his deadpan delivery. And his earlier records could grow ponderous with one evocative but downbeat tale after another, all done in slow or mid-tempo and sung in his flat-as-a-Texas-highway voice.
In a welcome move, McMurtry varies his mood and shakes up the pacing some on this new album. The title track, for example, is a simple, heartfelt song of advice from a father to a teenager, which reveals a warmer, less cynical side of the artist.
Not to say that McMurtry has abandoned his dark snapshots of alienated outsiders. “Fast As I Can” tells of “a drinking man with a guitar problem” who feels like “he’d died and gone to Houston” after falling for a woman. “I Only Want to Talk to You”, a man’s sad plea to his estranged love, is one of McMurtry’s most intimate character studies. Aided by Lloyd Maines’ laid-back yet lively production, McMurtry’s tough-luck tales suggest Joe Henry’s Texas cousin or a more low-key John Hiatt.
This release, McMurtry’s fifth (and second for Sugar Hill), probably will neither greatly increase his popularity nor disappoint his fans. While lacking one of his trademark epic story-songs, such as the Candyland track “Where’s Johnny” or “12 O’Clock Whistle” from last year’s It Had To Happen, it does reveal some new tricks. McMurtry even tackles a rare cover, a tip of the hat to the late king of Texas storytellers, Townes Van Zandt, whose “Rex’s Blues” is rendered with a surprisingly rocking edge.