Texas-size rock comes to Bluebird

The enthusiastic crowd got what it came to see Tuesday night: Texas-size country-rock with James McMurtry and his three-piece band. He is touring in support of his new record “Just Us Kids.”

When he started to play the new album’s title track early in the set, he drew a good reaction from the crowd. After playing a few songs on electric guitar, he switched to acoustic and then back again.

“Now we’re going to play the hits,” he said as he put his electric guitar back on.

After a roar from audience members, McMurtry joked with them.

“All of you know what you want to hear. None of you know what you’re going to hear,” he said, drawing laughter from the mostly adult audience. “You pay to get in and you take your chances.”

One of the songs the crowed seemed to want to hear was “We Can’t Make It Here.”
The song is a lengthy diatribe lashing out against the Bush administration and corporate greed. The crowd danced to nearly every song, but was most enthusiastic about this protest song.

Later in the set, McMurtry briefly stopped to talk to the crowd.

“Now we’re going to play a little country,” he said. “By that, I mean songs about people who actually grew up in the country.”

One song, “Saint Mary of the Woods,” was closer to a hard rock song than country, as it was one of the fastest songs of the night with driving guitar riffs. “No More Buffalo” was a slower song that seemed to reel in the crowd’s interest.

Bloomington native Rob Davis has seen McMurtry perform at least 15 times.

“He’s good every time,” Davis said. “He’s real. It’s nuts and bolts – the way it should be.”

Davis’ favorite song of the performance was “Levelland.” He said his favorite McMurtry song is “Paint By Numbers,” which he said McMurtry never plays live.

He has seen McMurtry at Farm Aid and places from Indiana to North Carolina. He said while McMurtry isn’t a huge act, he has received more attention from the college crowd because of his protest songs.

“He doesn’t get a lot of mainstream play,” he said. “But if you like him, you’ll find him.”
Indianapolis native Kevin Eckert, 45, has seen McMurtry close to 10 times all over the country, including in Texas, Arizona and Florida.

“He’s one of my favorite songwriters,” he said. “I keep his schedule handy ’cause I travel a lot.”

Eckert has been a fan of McMurtry since 1991, shortly after the singer-songwriter got his start in the late ’80s.

He said his original favorite song from the Texan was “I’m Not From Here,” but now he likes “We Can’t Make It Here.”

“James is from Texas. He lived with Bush as a governor,” Eckert said. “And he finally got fed up with him, and he’s such a brilliant songwriter, he put it into words probably better than anybody’s speech could.”