February 2012
1 post
We Can't Make it Here Naivete
Sometimes my song,”We Can’t Make it Here”, seems a bit naive. It’s still a pretty good song, and songs don’t have time to be fair and balanced. Songs are mostly about emotion. So I still sing it. But I read the New York Times a couple of Sundays ago, and I now understand why we can’t competitively produce iphones here. It seems that Steve Jobs was not happy with...
Feb 12th
2 notes
November 2011
3 posts
The Occupy Movement
About a week ago, at the end of a short solo tour of Southwest Alaska, I wandered down to Occupy Anchorage. The camp was only a block from my hotel. The temperature was in the single digits with a light snow. There were three tents, the first of which was wide open. Inside were four young men, two white and two native, a dog, and a propane heater. I offered them some smoked salmon and some CDs....
Nov 29th
JAMES McMURTRY OFFERS FREE MP3 IN SUPPORT OF...
JAMES McMURTRY OFFERS FREE MP3 IN SUPPORT OF OCCUPY MOVEMENTThe singer-songwriter is giving away mp3s of his iconic political masterpiece “We Can’t Make It Here” (from his award-winning Childish Things).  Fans are encouraged to use the free mp3 of “We Can’t Make It Here” to create videos supporting the Occupy movement. Click here to download the free mp3....
Nov 15th
What Happened to The Border?
Late in the summer of 1992, my tour manager and I crossed into the United States from Emerson, Manitoba, after a tour of Western Canada. We were tired and disheveled. The U.S. Border Patrol agent at the gate was a big man with a handle bar mustache and a big nickel plated revolver, with nice custom stag horn grips, hanging from his hip. He wore the green uniform of the era, and had a sense of...
Nov 7th
February 2011
1 post
Keeping Tulsa Safe
Why is it that small Midwestern airports have all the most up to date passenger screening equipment, while some of the busier airports do not? Do they think Al Qaeda is planning to hit us from the heartland, or is the fear index just higher out there, prompting the local politicos to bring home more homeland security dollars? Of the three times I’ve been ordered into the full body scanner, a...
Feb 5th
November 2010
2 posts
Nov 18th
New Tour Dates
Fri Nov 19 Austin Public Library Fundraiser, AT&T Conference Center Austin, TX Sun Nov 21 Mucky Duck (2 Solo Shows 7 and 9pm) Houston, TX Wed Nov 24 Continental Club (Midnite) Austin, TX Sun Nov 28 Continental Club Gallery (Solo) Austin, TX Tues Nov 30 Johnny D’s Somerville, MA Wed Dec 1 Iron Horse (Solo) Northampton, MA Thur Dec 2 Club Helsinki (Solo) Hudson, NY Fri Dec 3 World Cafe...
Nov 12th
October 2010
2 posts
New Tour Dates
Sat Oct 16 Continental Club Austin, TX Sat Oct 23 Austin Variety Show Austin, TX Fri Nov 5 Threadgill’s Austin, TX Sat Nov 6 Gruene Hall New Braunfels, TX Sun Nov 21 Mucky Duck (Solo) Houston, TX Wed Dec 1 Iron Horse (Solo) Northampton, MA Fri Dec 3 World Cafe Live (Solo) Philadelphia, PA Thur Dec 11 The Aardvark Ft. Worth Fri Dec 12 Floores Country Store Helotes, TX
Oct 9th
Oct 9th
September 2010
1 post
New Tour Dates
Thursday, September 16   Marfa, TX Padre’s Friday, September 17  Lubbock, TX Lone Star Event Center Saturday, September 18 Santa Fe, NM Santa Fe Brewing Co. Sunday, September 19 Phoenix, AZ The Rhythm Room Tuesday, September 21 Solana Beach, CA Belly Up Tavern Wednesday, September 22 Los Angeles, CA The Mint Thursday, September 23 Felton, CA Don Quixote’s ...
Sep 15th
August 2010
3 posts
Garden and Gun Feature →
Aug 18th
Click here for a custom playlist of some of... →
Aug 18th
Solo/Acoustic shows in Virginia this weekend:
8/12 Alexandria, VA The Birchmere (w Ray Wylie Hubbard) 8/13 Charlottesville, VA Jefferson Theatre 8/14 Ashland, VA Ashland Coffee and Tea
Aug 9th
June 2010
2 posts
Hittin' The Road
Come on out to a show: 07/02  Austin, TX  Threadgills 07/03  Rockport Fulton, TX  Charlie Robison’s Bay Bash & Red Fish Round-Up 07/08  Champaign, IL  High DIve 07/09  Berwyn, IL  Fitzgerald’s 07/10  Ferndale, MI  The Magic Bag 07/11  Cleveland, OH  Beachland Ballroom 07/13  Toronto, ON  Lee’s Palace 07/14  Pittsburgh, PA  Club Cafe 07/15  Blacksburg, VA  Attitude’s...
Jun 28th
Catfish
While bow fishing for gar on the San Gabriel River just upstream from Granger Lake, I floated through a school of carp surface feeding on some kind of scum washed in by the recent rain. The French know how to cook carp, but I don’t, so I leave them be. There were grey fish, which I took to be buffalo fish, mixed in with the carp. Then I noticed that the grey ones had whiskers. They appeared...
Jun 6th
May 2010
2 posts
Fear of Flying
Yesterday, I flew on Southwest Airlines flight 420 from Tampa Florida to Austin Texas. I sat in a window seat on the left side of the plane. I watched the blue waters of the gulf go by thirty five thousand feet below. I saw ships kicking up a white froth at their sterns. I saw a few oil platforms. An hour or so into the flight, the platforms increased in numbers and so did the ships....
May 26th
Junk Shot or Money Shot? BP Fiddles While Rome...
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - BP conceded Thursday that more oil than it estimated is gushing into the Gulf of Mexico as heavy crude washed into Louisiana’s wetlands for the first time, feeding worries and uncertainty about the massive monthlong spill. Let’s get something clear. BP knew, from the beginning, exactly how much oil that blowout was capable of spilling. BP is a modern oil company....
May 24th