JAMES McMURTRY INKS WITH COMPADRE RECORDS, READY TO ROCK WITH LIVE IN AUGHT-THREE

Street Date Set for March 23

AUSTIN, TX (PRWEB) January 8, 2004 --James McMurtry and his band, the Heartless Bastards, are ready to unleash their first live album, Live In Aught-Three, their first for Compadre Records (Distributed through RED Distribution.) McMurtry, widely hailed as one of the greatest musical interpreters of American life, recorded the album inside of two shows at the Zephyr in Salt Lake City, one at Nashvilles 12th & Porter, and one at the Orange Peel in Asheville, N.C. The album is set for March 23 release.

13 out of 14 of the albums live tracks have their origins in McMurtrys acclaimed seven-album-deep catalog with the exception of a previously unreleased solo performance, Lights of Cheyenne."

McMurtry was born in Fort Worth in the early '60s. His father, author Larry McMurtry (Lonesome Dove, Terms of Endearment), exposed his son to what he called hillbilly music" with an abundance of Johnny Cash and Roy Acuff records. The first concert he attended was Johnny Cash with the Carter Family, Carl Perkins and the Statler brothers sitting in. Kris Kristofferson became a central influence going forward.

McMurtry wrote his first full song (as opposed to song fragments) at 25 and enlisted John Mellencamp to produce Too Long In Wasteland, his 1989 debut for Columbia Records. Candyland followed in 1992, with the Don Dixon-produced Whered You Hide The Body in 1995. Segueing from Columbia to Sugar Hill, he released both It Had To Happen and Walk Between The Raindrops (produced by Lloyd Maines) in 1998, and Saint Mary Of The Woods (self-produced and featuring his road band, and mixed by Ross Hogarth) in 2002.

According to Blender magazine, (McMurtry) can dazzle with analogy, metaphor and other lit-class devices...in a series of barbed rock records as terse as Hank Williams or Raymond Carver." The OC Weekly noted that McMurtry often pens sad-but-sweet tales about hard-luck losers, alcoholics, ugly breakups and busted dreams...(His) characters dont usually die or off themselves like youd expect because he wants you to believe theyre folks who live among us and may even be us." The Austin Chronicle adds, As a songwriter and guitarist, McMurtry only gets better as he gets older. Hes the one to whom the word 'wise can be applied in all sincerity." And John Mellencamp said, "James writes like he's lived a lifetime." -

McMurtry himself is much more humble and succinct: I simply hope the album dispels any rumors that we suck," he laughs.

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22 cary@bakernorthrop.com