Review: McMurtry Was Worth The Wait at the Avalon by Mark Pelavin

Fans of the Texas singer-songwriter James McMurtry waited over two years for his concert at the historic Avalon theater, which was twice postponed due to COVID.  It finally took place this week, and every person who was part of the sell-out crowd would agree:  it was well worth the wait.

McMurtry performed alone, accompanying himself on guitar. The stripped-down format brought his lyrics front and center, where they belong.  It’s hard to think of a contemporary songwriter who packs as much into a song as McMurtry – from social commentary to word play to meditations on growing old (both pro and con).  He delivers nearly every song with an intensity that at times can be overwhelming, but is always compelling.  

His ever-present sneer only underscores his cynical take on much of modern American life.  Many of McMurtry’s most powerful songs comment on The State of the Union, in fact, that’s even one of his song titles (“It’s the state of the union, I guess/We’re all in a hell of a mess/We’re all in the family, the cursed and the blessed”).

At the Avalon, McMurtry highlighted songs from his extraordinary new album The Horses and Hounds.  Many of those songs referenced, often with pointed humor, the reality of growing older.  In If It Don’t Bleed he writes “Now it’s all I can do just to get out of bed/There’s more in the mirror than there is up ahead/I smile and I nod like I heard what you said every time.”  But McMurtry also celebrates the joys that come from maturity; in the album’s standout track, Canola Fields, “In a way back corner of a cross-town bus/We were hiding out under my hat/Cashing in on a thirty-year crush/You can’t be young and do that.”

In concert, McMurtry’s guitar playing really shines. That’s especially true when he picks up his 12-string Takamine, which, in his hands, sounds like an orchestra.  

Austin-based Betty Soo opened the show.  She was as warm and engaging as McMurtry was dour and distant, but she shared his craftsmanship and commitment to outstanding songwriting.  This was her first appearance on the Avalon stage, after having performed at both the Stoltz Listening Room and the Stolz Pavilion.  Judging by the response, it will certainly not be her last.

Mark Pelavin, the founder of Hambleton Cove Consulting, is a writer, consultant and music lover living, very happily, in St. Michaels.