James McMurtry and the Art of the Protest Song
Texas Songwriter Hits a Nerve
By Kevin C. Madigan
James McMurtry is not a morning man. He drawled a weary greeting when reached by telephone at home in Austin, seemingly unaware that a call was forthcoming from a journalist. In spite of the disturbance, he wanted to talk. Evidently, this is not an artist who stands on ceremony.
photo by Steve Circeo
Then again, he should be accustomed to the attention by now, having received plenty of it in recent months following the release of his song, "We Can’t Make It Here," a scathing indictment of pernicious outsourcing by U.S. companies and the callous obfuscations of the Bush administration. The tune and its message have drawn praise from the likes of The Nation magazine, which called it a "haunting reflection on corporate globalization and wars of whim." The Washington Post wrote of McMurtry having "the passion of a doomsday evangelist," while Robert Christgau (Village Voice) and Stephen King (Entertainment Weekly) both put the song high up on their best-of lists for 2005.
"This record has outsold everything else I’ve done," said McMurtry, sounding a little surprised. Childish Things, the album which features "We Can’t Make It Here," continues to sit atop the Americana Music Chart, as it has for more than two months, which is in itself a record.
McMurtry received his first guitar at the age of seven as a present from his father, writer Larry McMurtry, and long ago proved his mettle as a singer-songwriter, albeit a relatively obscure one, releasing his first album, Too Long In The Wasteland (produced by another rock activist, John Mellencamp) back in 1989. Kasey Chambers, Townes Van Zandt and Robert Earl Keen, among others, have since covered his songs. "I’ve written protest songs before," said McMurtry, "but this one just got more attention. I used to suppress it. I didn’t want to be a preacher. I just had to risk it ‘cause things are so bad now."
"I talk very little on stage, unless there’s something really outrageous in the news," said McMurtry, preferring to let his songs speak for themselves.
That risk is one few artists seem willing to take. The ones that do end up taking it on the chin. Both Steve Earle and the Dixie Chicks came under heavy criticism for speaking their minds in public, but ultimately their careers have not suffered unduly.
Earle joined McMurtry at "Camp Casey" in Crawford, Texas last summer to perform for Cindy Sheehan and her anti-war supporters, and together they played the song "We Can’t Make It Here." "I talk very little on stage, unless there’s something really outrageous in the news," said McMurtry, preferring to let his songs speak for themselves. “It’s in the air..." he added, cryptically.
Thanks to artists like these, the tradition of the protest song is alive and kicking, though somewhat dormant in recent years when compared to its heyday in the Sixties. The term “protest song” had long since taken on the air of anachronism. Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly, Paul Robeson and plenty of others all had at one time or another shone a light on the plight of workers, immigrants and prisoners (of conscience and otherwise). Leadbelly himself languished in the stockade long enough to compose some of his finest songs there. Dylan switched gears in the Seventies and went through his Jesus phase but then returned to the genre with the song "Union Sundown" on the underrated Infidels album from 1983. ("Well, it's sundown on the union /And what's made in the USA / Sure was a good idea / 'Til greed got in the way.")
Photo by Julie Farthing
Protest songs and the artists brave enough to sing them appear throughout history, and in this country, everything from the Civil War to the Great Depression has been rich fodder for the genre.
McMurtry leaves the distinct impression that there will be more songs of this kind in his future. It’s not a question of adopting a stance on the hip issue of the day. Asked what he thinks is Bush’s biggest mistake so far, he replied: "He’s doing it now with Hamas. Unless he starts treating Hamas like a legitimate government, the entire region is going to explode. That will be his legacy. If they’re treated as outlaws, they will behave like outlaws. Whether he likes it or not, [Hamas] is a democratically elected government." So this is worse than Iraq? "Much worse, (but) the longer we stay, the worse we look," he said. What about Iran? "He’s contributed to making Iran a problem."
Lest anyone think that he is blindly loyal to the left, McMurtry declared, "the Democrats are just as bad for not standing up." Having received encouragement in terms of sales, radio airplay and media coverage, this artist is committed to express what he feels most strongly about, and will continue do so. Is he comfortable being called an activist? "I guess so," he said. "So long as someone’s listening." 
Artist Site
"Childish Things" CD $13.98 @ Amazon.com
Video: "We Can't Make It Here" (Live)
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