James McMurtry and the Martial Law Review w/ BettySoo
Wed Jul 22, 2026 7:00pm Doors - 21+
Venue Website:
https://thesirenmorrobay.com/
Artist Website:
https://www.jamesmcmurtry.com/
“James McMurtry may be the truest, fiercest songwriter of his generation” – Stephen King
James McMurtry will release The Black Dog and the Wandering Boy on June 20 via New West Records. The 10-song collection was co-produced by McMurtry & Don Dixon (R.E.M., The Smithereens) and is his first album in four years. It follows his 2021 acclaimed New West debut, The Horses and the Hounds, which Uncut Magazine said “lifts storytelling-in-song to meticulous new levels” and Pitchfork awarded an 8.0, saying “James McMurtry stands out even among the Lone Star State’s finest songwriters…” The Black Dog and the Wandering Boy features appearances by Sarah Jarosz, Charlie Sexton, Bonnie Whitmore, Bukka Allen, and more alongside his trusted backing band—Cornbread on bass, Tim Holt on guitar, Daren Hess on drums, and BettySoo on backing vocals.
As varied as they are, McMurtry’s new story-songs find inspiration in scraps from his family’s past: a rough pencil sketch by Ken Kesey that serves as the album cover, the hallucinations experienced by his father, the legendary writer Larry McMurtry, an old poem by a family friend. A supremely insightful and inventive storyteller, McMurtry teases vivid worlds out of small details, setting them to arrangements that have the elements of Americana but sound too sly and smart for such a general category. Funny and sad often in the same breath, The Black Dog and the Wandering Boy adds a new chapter to a long career that has enjoyed a resurgence as young songwriters like Sarah Jarosz and Jason Isbell (who is namechecked on the new album) cite him as a formative influence.
Today, Rolling Stone Country shared the album’s rumbling title track. A kind of squirrely blues, it features two mysterious figures who appear only to those slipping from reality, yet it’s never grim nor especially despairing. Instead, McMurtry namechecks a “Weird Al” deep cut and depicts a tortured soul who doesn’t have to work a nine-to-five. McMurtry says, “The album title and that song comes from my stepmother, Faye. After my dad passed, she asked me if he ever talked to me about his hallucinations. He’d gone into dementia for a while before he died, but hadn’t mentioned to me anything about seeing things. She told me his favorite hallucinations were the black dog and the wandering boy. I took them and applied them to a fictional character.” Speaking to Rolling Stone, McMurtry added, “I stole one line from the late Keith Ferguson, who played bass in the Fabulous Thunderbirds back in the day. I didn’t know Keith, but Ronnie Johnson, our longtime ex-bassist, used to hang out with him some. Ronnie remembers Keith stirring his drink on the front porch as the sun came up and saying, ‘I like to sit up and watch the squares go to work.'”
Venue Website:
https://thesirenmorrobay.com/Artist Website:
https://www.jamesmcmurtry.com/James McMurtry will release The Black Dog and the Wandering Boy on June 20 via New West Records. The 10-song collection was co-produced by McMurtry & Don Dixon (R.E.M., The Smithereens) and is his first album in four years. It follows his 2021 acclaimed New West debut, The Horses and the Hounds, which Uncut Magazine said “lifts storytelling-in-song to meticulous new levels” and Pitchfork awarded an 8.0, saying “James McMurtry stands out even among the Lone Star State’s finest songwriters…” The Black Dog and the Wandering Boy features appearances by Sarah Jarosz, Charlie Sexton, Bonnie Whitmore, Bukka Allen, and more alongside his trusted backing band—Cornbread on bass, Tim Holt on guitar, Daren Hess on drums, and BettySoo on backing vocals.
As varied as they are, McMurtry’s new story-songs find inspiration in scraps from his family’s past: a rough pencil sketch by Ken Kesey that serves as the album cover, the hallucinations experienced by his father, the legendary writer Larry McMurtry, an old poem by a family friend. A supremely insightful and inventive storyteller, McMurtry teases vivid worlds out of small details, setting them to arrangements that have the elements of Americana but sound too sly and smart for such a general category. Funny and sad often in the same breath, The Black Dog and the Wandering Boy adds a new chapter to a long career that has enjoyed a resurgence as young songwriters like Sarah Jarosz and Jason Isbell (who is namechecked on the new album) cite him as a formative influence.
Today, Rolling Stone Country shared the album’s rumbling title track. A kind of squirrely blues, it features two mysterious figures who appear only to those slipping from reality, yet it’s never grim nor especially despairing. Instead, McMurtry namechecks a “Weird Al” deep cut and depicts a tortured soul who doesn’t have to work a nine-to-five. McMurtry says, “The album title and that song comes from my stepmother, Faye. After my dad passed, she asked me if he ever talked to me about his hallucinations. He’d gone into dementia for a while before he died, but hadn’t mentioned to me anything about seeing things. She told me his favorite hallucinations were the black dog and the wandering boy. I took them and applied them to a fictional character.” Speaking to Rolling Stone, McMurtry added, “I stole one line from the late Keith Ferguson, who played bass in the Fabulous Thunderbirds back in the day. I didn’t know Keith, but Ronnie Johnson, our longtime ex-bassist, used to hang out with him some. Ronnie remembers Keith stirring his drink on the front porch as the sun came up and saying, ‘I like to sit up and watch the squares go to work.'”
Newsletter Signup