Americana singer-songwriter McMurtry returns to Tucson for Congress show | Music

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McMurtry, 59, attended the University of Arizona in the 1980s and spent time here over the years visiting Pulitzer Prize-winning father, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer and screenwriter Larry McMurtry, who shared his time between his little Texan Hometown Archer City and Tucson split up. Larry McMurtry died in Tucson in March at the age of 84.

The younger McMurtry only stayed at the UA two years before deciding college wasn’t for him. Instead, he played concerts at Tucson’s local clubs, most of them for free, he recalled.

His first paid appearance was in Benson at the Riverside Inn Saloon on the San Pedro River. McMurtry was recruited to play guitar for a group of violinists who were members of the Southern Arizona Old Time Fiddlers Association. The leader of the group was called Jack and lived in neighboring St. David.

“Neither of us were that good but Jack, but it was fun,” recalled McMurtry, who said he paid $ 50 to perform.

McMurtry is coming here with his first new studio album in almost seven years. “The Horses and the Hounds,” released August 20, was almost finished in late 2019 when he had to return to Jackson Browne’s groovemaster studio to record vocals – he had tried in June 2019, but the wood smoke from the wildfires in the Area shredded his voice, he said – and put down the piano tracks.

The singing was done and they were about to record the piano when California closed due to the pandemic. McMurtry eventually knocked on studio musicians in Texas to complete the recording.

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