FREE IN-STORE PICKUP, AND FREE SHIPPING ON PURCHASES OVER $100 IN THE USA!
James McMurtry

The Black Dog and the Wandering Boy (CD)

$15.99

Shipping & Pick-Up

SHIPPING POLICY

We offer FREE shipping on orders of $100 or more. All media orders (vinyl/CD/cassette) will ship via USPS media mail. Please be aware that we cannot provide free multiple shipments for a single order, so if your order includes pre-order items, the entire order will be held until all items are in stock and ready to be shipped.

Your tracking information usually updates within 24-72 hours. Once your order departs from our facility, we no longer have control over it. For assistance with missing packages, kindly reach out to your local post office branch. Please note that we are not responsible for stolen packages and are not able to refund you for your purchase if your package was stolen after delivery. Shipping times may vary.


FREE IN-STORE PICKUP

If you are local, we offer FREE in-store pickup on online orders.  Please note, however, that using Apple Pay at checkout will auto-fill a shipping charge and will not allow you the option to choose free in-store pickup. In other words, if you wish to choose free in-store pickup at checkout, you must checkout without using an accelerated payment method like Apple Pay.

When his father died in 2021, James McMurtry went through his effects and discovered a rough pencil sketch of himself as a child. “I knew it was of me, but I didn’t realize who drew it. I had to ask my stepmom, and she said it looked like Ken Kesey’s work back in the ‘60s.” The Merry Pranksters—Kesey’s roving band of hippie activists and creators—stopped by often to visit Larry McMurtry, his wife Faye, and his very young son James.

He held on to that drawing as he worked on a new album, The Black Dog and the Wandering Boy, his eleventh. It’s a collection of rough-hewn story-songs and richly drawn character sketches that have elements of Americana—rolling guitars, barroom harmonies, traces of banjo and harmonica—but sound too sly and smart for such a generalized category. Funny and sad often in the same breath, it adds a new chapter to a long career that has enjoyed a recent resurgence as younger songwriters like Sarah Jarosz (who plays on the new album) and Jason Isbell (who took McMurtry on tour) cite him as a formative influence.

McMurtry’s characters face similar realizations, although theirs are harder, sadder, and arrive at the end of life rather than the beginning. Sometimes they find life savers, like a calling or a fond memory; sometimes they drown, like that South Texas lawman. Even the songwriter himself doesn’t always know what will happen or what will inspire him. “You follow the words where they lead. If you can get a character, maybe you can get a story. If you can set it to a verse-chorus structure, maybe you can get a song."

UPC: 607396660827

Payment & Security

Payment methods

  • American Express
  • Apple Pay
  • Diners Club
  • Discover
  • Google Pay
  • Mastercard
  • PayPal
  • Shop Pay
  • Venmo
  • Visa

Your payment information is processed securely. We do not store credit card details nor have access to your credit card information.

James McMurtry - The Black Dog and the Wandering Boy album cover
James McMurtry

The Black Dog and the Wandering Boy (CD)

$15.99

When his father died in 2021, James McMurtry went through his effects and discovered a rough pencil sketch of himself as a child. “I knew it was of me, but I didn’t realize who drew it. I had to ask my stepmom, and she said it looked like Ken Kesey’s work back in the ‘60s.” The Merry Pranksters—Kesey’s roving band of hippie activists and creators—stopped by often to visit Larry McMurtry, his wife Faye, and his very young son James.

He held on to that drawing as he worked on a new album, The Black Dog and the Wandering Boy, his eleventh. It’s a collection of rough-hewn story-songs and richly drawn character sketches that have elements of Americana—rolling guitars, barroom harmonies, traces of banjo and harmonica—but sound too sly and smart for such a generalized category. Funny and sad often in the same breath, it adds a new chapter to a long career that has enjoyed a recent resurgence as younger songwriters like Sarah Jarosz (who plays on the new album) and Jason Isbell (who took McMurtry on tour) cite him as a formative influence.

McMurtry’s characters face similar realizations, although theirs are harder, sadder, and arrive at the end of life rather than the beginning. Sometimes they find life savers, like a calling or a fond memory; sometimes they drown, like that South Texas lawman. Even the songwriter himself doesn’t always know what will happen or what will inspire him. “You follow the words where they lead. If you can get a character, maybe you can get a story. If you can set it to a verse-chorus structure, maybe you can get a song."

UPC: 607396660827

View product