James McMurtry

Event information

"One of America's greatest living songwriters" - Rolling Stone

"...there is so much to digest in the music of James McMurtry and this new album is filled with ample proof of his many gifts and talent" - Lonesome Highway

"...solidifying Mcmurtry as one of this generation's most unflinchingly potent and powerfully erudite recording artists" - American Songwriter

"This is a career-best collection of dense, fascinating narratives." - Country Universe

"A supremely insightful and inventive storyteller, McMurtry teases vivid worlds out of small details, setting them to arrangements that have the elements of Americana, but sound too sly and smart for such a general category... This is roots rock at its most cathartic." - Americana UK

The Oxted Sessions is delighted to welcome American songwriting great James McMurtry to St Mary’s, with special guest BettySoo returning to Oxted to open the evening.

A Lone Star sheriff hunts quail on horseback and keeps a secret second family. A mechanic lies among the spare parts on the floor of his garage and wonders if he can afford to keep his girlfriend. A troubled man sees hallucinations of a black dog and a wandering boy and hums “Weird Al” songs in his head. These are some of the strange and richly drawn characters who inhabit James McMurtry’s eleventh album (and his first in four years) “The Black Dog & the Wandering Boy”

Produced by long-time collaborator Don Dixon (R.E.M.; The Smithereens) and recorded with his trusted band, the album blends sharp Americana arrangements with McMurtry’s wry, clear-eyed storytelling. Funny and sad often in the same breath, the album adds a new chapter to a long career that has enjoyed a resurgence as young songwriters like Sarah Jarosz and Jason Isbell cite him as a formative influence.

The end-of-year Best of 2025 lists only underlined the critical and public love for “The Black Dog & the Wandering Boy”. The album ranked #2 in No Depression's Best Albums; #4 in Mojo’s Best Americana; #5 in Americana UK reader's best albums; and #14 in Rolling Stone’s Best Americana/Country.