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The Black Dog and the Wandering Boy | James McMurtry

The Black Dog and the Wandering Boy by James McMurtry, released 20 June 2025 1. Laredo (Small Dark Something) 2. South Texas Lawman 3. The Color of Night 4. Pinocchio in Vegas 5. Annie 6. The Black Dog and the Wandering Boy 7. Back to Coeur d’Alene 8. Sons of the Second Sons 9. Sailing Away 10. Broken Freedom Song 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