Biography

McMurtry spent the first seven years of his boyhood in Ft. Worth but was raised mostly in Leesburg, Virginia. He attended the Woodberry Forest School, Orange, Virginia. He began performing in his teens, writing bits and pieces. He started performing his own songs at a downtown beer garden while studying English and Spanish at the University of Arizona in Tucson. After traveling to Alaska and playing a few gigs, he returned to Texas and his father's "little bitty ranch house crammed with 10,000 books". After a time, he left for San Antonio, where he worked as a house painter, actor, bartender, and sometimes singer, performing at writer's nights and open mics.

In 1987 McMurtry's career entered an upswing. A friend in San Antonio suggested McMurtry enter the Kerrville Folk Festival New Folk songwriter contest; he became one of six winners that year. Also around this time John Mellencamp was starring in a film based on a script by McMurtry's father, which gave McMurtry the opportunity to get a demo tape to Mellencamp. Mellencamp subsequently served as co-producer on McMurtry's 1989 debut album, Too Long in the Wasteland. McMurtry also appeared on the soundtrack of the film Falling from Grace, working with Mellencamp, John Prine, Joe Ely, and Dwight Yoakam in a "supergroup" called Buzzin' Cousins.

McMurtry released follow-up albums Candyland (1992) and Where'd You Hide the Body (1995). Walk Between the Raindrops followed in 1998 and 2002 brought St. Mary of the Woods. In April 2004, McMurtry released a tour album called Live In Aught-Three. Choctaw Bingo, one of McMurtry's most popular songs, is featured on both St. Mary of the Woods and Live in Aught-Three.

In 2005, McMurtry released his first studio album in three years. Childish Things again received high critical praise, winning the song and album of the year at the 5th Annual Americana Music Awards in Nashville, Tennessee. The album was perhaps McMurtry at his most political, as his working-class anthem "We Can't Make It Here" included direct criticism of George W. Bush, the Iraq War, and Wal-Mart. The music critic Robert Christgau ranked "We Can't Make It Here" as the best song of the 2000s.

McMurtry released his follow-up album to Childish Things in April 2008. Just Us Kids continued with the previous album's political themes and included the song Cheney's Toy, McMurtry's most direct criticism of George W. Bush so far. Like We Can't Make It Here from the previous album, Cheney's Toy was made available as a free Internet download.

In November 2014, McMurtry announced that his new album "Complicated Game (album)" will be available on February 24, 2015, on an LA record label, also named Complicated Game.

McMurtry currently resides in Austin, Texas. When in Austin, McMurtry and The Heartless Bastards play a midnight set at The Continental Club on Wednesday nights. He is usually preceded by another Austin roots rock legend, Jon Dee Graham. McMurtry's son, Curtis, is a singer-songwriter in his own right and has performed with his father.

Discography

Albums

Year	Album	Chart Positions						Label
1989	Too Long in the Wasteland	125						Columbia
1992	Candyland
1995	Where'd You Hide the Body
1997	It Had to Happen							Sugar Hill
1998	Walk Between the Raindrops
2002	Saint Mary of the Woods
2004	Live in Aught-Three							Compadre
2005	Childish Things		28	40	47
2007	Best of the Sugar Hill Years							Sugar Hill
2008	Just Us Kids	136	2	18				Lightning Rod
2009	Live in Europe		24
2015	Complicated Game	102	1	9		4	18	Complicated Game

Singles

Year	Single	Peak positions	Album
		US Main. Rock
1989	"Painting By Numbers"	33	Too Long in the Wasteland

Guest singles

Year	Single	Artist	Peak positions	Album
			US Country
1992	"Sweet Suzanne"	Buzzin' Cousins	68	Falling from Grace soundtrack

[ Source: Wikipedia ]