JAMES McMURTRY

THE UNION CHAPEL

Tuesday 13th October

Doors 6.30pm
Curfew 10.30pm

TICKETS

James McMurtry returns with the black dog and the wandering boy June 20, 2025 via new west records

featuring Sarah Jarosz, Charlie sexton, Bonnie Whitmore, Bukka Allen, and more

rolling stone country premieres title track today 

“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 Mcurtry 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 Betty Soo 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.