Alternative country singer-songwriter, James McMurtry will perform at The ELM in Bozeman on Sunday, October 23, 2022 with support from Jonny Burke.

McMurtry’s critically acclaimed first album Too Long in the Wasteland (1989) was produced by John Mellencamp and marked the beginning of a series of successful projects for Columbia and Sugar Hill Records. In 1996, McMurtry received a Grammy nomination for Long Form Music Video for Where’d You Hide the Body. Additionally, It Had to Happen (1997) received the American Indie Award for Best Americana Album.

Childish Things (2005) scored endless critical praise and spent six full weeks topping the Americana Music Radio chart in 2005 and 2006. In 2006, Childish Things won the Americana Music Association’s Album of the Year and “We Can’t Make It Here” was named the rapidly rising organization’s Song of the Year. McMurtry’s Just Us Kids (2008) earned his highest Billboard 200 chart position in nearly two decades and notched Americana Music Award nominations.

His 2015 release, Complicated Game, received universal praise. Americana Songwriter gave it 4.5 out of 5 stars and said “It’s an album that shows again and again that very few songwriters on this planet illuminate the oft-unfair rules of this game or the inner workings of the players quite like he can.” McMurtry’s 10th and most recent studio album, The Horses and the Hounds (2021),  was again met with universal acclaim. Pitchfork gave the album 8 out of 10 stars and said, “On his expertly written 10th album, the Texas storyteller delivers some of his most intense and humane work.”