RECORD REVIEW : ‘Wasteland’ Has a Freshness

JAMES McMURTRY

“Too Long in the Wasteland.” Columbia

Most of McMurtry’s tales of small-town aspirations and values--lost and found--have been told before, but he brings a conviction and poetic freshness to the best of these 11 songs that makes this an especially promising debut.

The Texan sings in an understated, almost monotone delivery that is as dry and unbending as the flatlands of his native state. Yet the style is not as much of a problem as it would be in another context because the rigidness of the vocals adds an extra layer of comment to McMurtry’s tales of restless acceptance. John Mellencamp’s production touches also add a tense, dramatic snap to the proceedings.

The best of the tunes have evocative images and pleasing rhymes reminiscent of John Prine. In “Shining Eyes,” McMurtry offers: “I shouldn’t sit here longing/For the time we never spent/With the pockets of my suitcase/Full of cards I never sent.”

McMurtry’s challenge is to pry deeper into the subtleties of human experience--a la Prine and Dylan--so that the originality of his themes can better match the frequent richness of his images.