I gotta blame Stephen King for this one. I picked it up after he raved about it in a column he wrote for Entertainment Weekly. It’s been on my mind ever since. The political statements, the working class ethos, and the passion carry this live album all the way through. It’s the kind of work that I would have loved to play for Joe Strummer and heard what he thought about it.
Musically the album runs from ballad feeling folk songs Lights of Cheyenne to more up tempo western swing numbers like Choctaw Bingo — which happen to be my favorite tracks on the album, along with Too Long in the Wasteland and Levelland. I have checked out McMurtry’s studio albums and they have some great stuff, but there is just something about the live recording that raises above what he’s been able to do in the studio.
Here is the track listing.
Live in Aught-Three
1. Saint Mary of the Woods
2. Fraulein O.
3. Red Dress
4. No More Buffalo
5. 60 Acres
6. Rachel’s Song
7. Out Here in the Middle
8. Choctaw Bingo
9. Lights of Cheyenne
10. Levelland
11. Max’s Theorem
12. I’m Not From Here
13. Too Long in the Wasteland
14. Rex’s Blues
