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James McMurtry - Best of the Sugar Hill Years
- Some say James McMurtry was singing his best when he signed on with independent music label Sugar Hill. His newest release, Best of the Sugar Hill Years documents a dozen of his cream of the crop songs from his three albums (It Had to Happen, Walk Between the Raindrops and Saint Mary of the Woods).
McMurtry's writing mirrors that of a storyteller with tales of the old South. And the old South wouldn’t be the old South unless some whiskey was involved. McMurtry sings about a battle with alcoholism in “Every Little Bit Counts.” He croons, “I tried and I tried and I tried every little trick I could, emptied out the whole damn bag but it was too little too late - sorry,” amid bongos and hypnotic drums.
He also addresses the South’s small town feel in the edgy-sounding “Lobo Town,” when old “blue hairs” looks down on him for smearing his grandfather’s good name by doing snuff and weed, as he says, “Grand Daddy’s good name fits like a shackle and a chain.”
McMurtry isn’t all rough and tough, though. He shows his softer side in “Out Here in the Middle,” as he tries to woo a girl to come to be with him in a safer environment. The chorus says, "Well out here in the middle you can park it on the street, step up to the counter; you nearly always get a seat, nobody steals, nobody cheats, wish you were here my love.”
Best of... compiles a decade of great Americana tunes that offers something for everyone.
Reviewer: Courtney Thompson
new
Reviewer's Rating: 8
Reader's Rating: 0
Reader's Votes: 0
Added: 17-Apr-2007
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