James McMurtry and the Martial Law Review

Name: James McMurtry and the Martial Law Review
Start: 2026-07-25T20:30:00-07:00
Location: 777 Valencia Street San Francisco CA 94110

Schedule

Sat, 25 Jul, 2026 at 08:30 pm

UTC-07:00

Location

777 Valencia Street San Francisco CA 94110 | San Francisco, CA

To request ADA seating: Please send us an email at [email protected] or call our box office at (415) 551-5157 and we can assist you. Our ADA area can reach capacity early, so we highly recommend contacting us as soon as possible. Day of show requests may not be able to be accommodated.
Dine with us at Curio [https://www.curiobarsf.com/] and receive Expedited Entry into The Chapel! When you kick off your evening with dinner and drinks at Curio, we will check your tickets at your table and you will avoid the line outside. Be sure you tell us you're coming to the show when you make your reservation and upon arrival to the restaurant. Reserve HERE [https://www.opentable.com/restref/client/?corrid=869f5291-d743-45e7-86e1-a220169d0799&lang=en-US&ot_source=Restaurant%20website&restref=107224].
Website [https://www.jamesmcmurtry.com/] | Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/artist/52BKc9OtCbQstAAPTIvLGH?si=eRbqvtjxTQaJVJvaTFcaJw] | YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@JamesMcMurtryOfficial] | Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/jamesmcmurtryofficial/]
James McMurtry released The Black Dog and the Wandering Boy on June 20, 2025 via New West Records. The 10-song collection was co-produced by McMurtry & Don Dixon (R.E.M., The Smithereens) and is his first album in four years. It follows his 2021 acclaimed new West debut, The Horses and the Hounds, which UnCut Magazine said “lifts storytelling-in-song to meticulous new levels" and Pitchfork awarded an 8.0, saying “James McMurtry stands out even among the Lone Star State’s finest songwriters…” The Black Dog and the Wandering Boy features appearances by Sarah Jarosz, Charlie Sexton, Bonnie Whitmore, Bukka Allen and more, alongside his trusted backing band, THE MARTIAL LAW REVIEW, Tim Holt on guitar and accordion, Cornbread on bass and Daren Hess on drums.
As varied as they are, McMurtry’s new story-songs find inspiration in scraps from his family’s past: a rough pencil sketch by Ken Kesey that serves as the album cover, the hallucinations experienced by his father, the legendary writer Larry McMurtry, an old poem by a family friend. A supremely insightful and inventive storyteller, McMurtry teases vivid worlds out of small details, setting them to arrangements that have elements of Americana but sound too sly and smart for such a general category. Funny and sad often in the same breath, The Black Dog and the Wandering Boy adds a new chapter to a long career that has young songwriters like Sarah Jarosz and Jason Isbell cite him as a formative influence.