Saint Mary of the Woods (James McMurtry Cover)

Railroad Bum · #1 09-23-2023, 03:45 PM

Man, I practiced this one for a couple days, but it probably sounds like slop, lol. Anyway, it's a great tune from singer-songwriter James McMurtry, son of novelist Larry McMurtry. I did my own arrangement of the song in dropped D, played in the key of E: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYhGu0jVnpY

started with 1 · #2 09-23-2023, 10:17 PM

No slop here. Sounds great! Not familiar with this one but a hauntingly beautiful song. You sound terrific. Thanks for the intro.

Railroad Bum · #3 09-24-2023, 01:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by started with 1

No slop here. Sounds great! Not familiar with this one but a hauntingly beautiful song. You sound terrific. Thanks for the intro.

Hey, thank you, my friend. I admittedly often do not practice tunes enough, but there are hundreds constantly swimming in my head, lol.

This is the version of the tune that inspired me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qw49-SNwx9A

Glennwillow · #4 09-24-2023, 08:49 AM

Very nice, Tim! I enjoyed that! No slop there!

- Glenn

Mandobart · #5 09-24-2023, 01:56 PM

Nice job! He has been on of my favorite songwriters for quite a while.

Railroad Bum · #6 09-24-2023, 02:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Glennwillow

Very nice, Tim! I enjoyed that! No slop there!

- Glenn

Glenn, thank you so much for checking the tune out. McMurtry really is a poet. Who else writes lines like--"Sunrise on the lake shining in your eyes,/ Shining on the wasted and the wise"? Maybe Dylan, Paul Simon, Leonard Cohen, Townes Van Zandt. That's lofty company right there. There is a literary quality to many of McMurtry's original songs that you just do not find in most other songwriters. I appreciate your kind words, my friend, and I do hate to practice. I love to play, but if I think of it as practice, I just get twitchy, lol.

Railroad Bum · #7 09-24-2023, 02:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mandobart

Nice job! He has been on of my favorite songwriters for quite a while.

Thank you so much, my friend. I have been a huge JM fan since he debuted back in the 80s. He is often overlooked in discussing the best songwriters, but he's right there with anybody currently working.

Gibson61 · #8 09-25-2023, 08:21 PM

Really enjoyed that. Soulful tune. JM has been on my list to spend some time getting to know. Just missed a chance to see him. With any type of lineage to Captain Woodrow Call and Captain Gus McRae

, not hard to believe he ranks up there with the best. Thanks for posting!

Railroad Bum · #9 09-26-2023, 01:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gibson61

Really enjoyed that. Soulful tune. JM has been on my list to spend some time getting to know. Just missed a chance to see him. With any type of lineage to Captain Woodrow Call and Captain Gus McRae

, not hard to believe he ranks up there with the best. Thanks for posting!

Well, thank you for checking out the tune. And it's certainly no wonder that McMurtry is as literary as he is, given that his dad was a great, great novelist and writer in general. They look quite a bit alike as well.

I have seen JM a couple times. He puts on a great show. If you do have a chance to see him, it's well worth it.