Acoustic Guitar Sessions Presents James McMurtry

Texas singer, songwriter, and guitarist James McMurtry arrived at the AG studio recently, surly and travel-weary, with a new haircut, an old fishing cap, an Ovation 12-string guitar, and a deep well of stories to tell in song. McMurtry’s most recent album, Complicated Game — reviewed positively in the April issue of Acoustic Guitar — has more of an acoustic focus than his previous 10 releases dating back to 1989. Watch him play a pair of songs from the new album — the dark “Copper Canteen” and the comparatively lighter “How’m I Gonna Find You Now” (which, he grumbles, is “a little comic relief” after the first one) — followed by his famous new-millennium protest anthem, “We Can’t Make It Here,” from his 2005 album Childish Things. — Mark Kemp