Too Long in the Wasteland is the debut album by the American musician James McMurtry, released in 1989.[2][3] Its first single was "Painted by Numbers".[4] The album's title was inspired in part by his father's Texas ranch, which is named the Wasteland.[5]
| Too Long in the Wasteland | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1989 | |||
| Genre | Rock, country, folk | |||
| Label | Columbia[1] | |||
| Producer | John Mellencamp | |||
| James McMurtry chronology | ||||
| ||||
The album peaked at No. 125 on the Billboard 200.[6] McMurtry supported the album by playing some concert dates with Kinky Friedman, and touring with Nanci Griffith.[4][7]
Production edit
The album was produced by John Mellencamp (with Michael Wanchic and Larry Crane), who reconnected with McMurtry during the development of Falling from Grace; the film was written by McMurtry's father, Larry McMurtry, who passed along his son's demo tape.[8][9][10] The songs were written in Archer City, Texas, and at Mellencamp's studio in Indiana.[11] McMurtry was backed by members of Mellencamp's band, as well as by David Grissom.[12][13]
The songs are not autobiographical. Many were written to rebut the tendency of popular country music to sentimentalize rural and small-town life.[14]
Critical reception edit
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [15] |
| Austin American-Statesman |  [13] |
| Robert Christgau | B+[16] |
| MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide | [8] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [17] |
The Chicago Reader wrote that "McMurtry mainly acts as a dispassionate observer, content to sketch the outlines of a situation and leave its meaning, or his opinion of it, largely up to the listener to infer."[18] Robert Christgau thought that, "like so many singer-songwriters and so many local-colorists, he tends to a soft fatalism, especially when he tries a big statement."[16] Texas Monthly likened McMurtry's "droll" singing to Mark Knopfler's.[19] The Edmonton Journal described the album as "Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska in technicolor."[20]
The New York Times called the album "a collection of 11 dour songs that portray the spiritually desolate lives of people living in America's heartland."[21] Trouser Press concluded that "McMurtry’s lyrics read as riveting poetry, but they’re that much more powerful when heard in the company of a modest hook and a heartland backbeat."[12] The Globe and Mail stated that McMurtry "writes with mordant humor about tiny places in a vast land where suspicion, prejudice and vague threats linger behind the Main Street facades, where choices made in haste are mulled over years later."[22] The Washington Post considered that, "while his singing often takes on the dry, colorless, detached tone of the narrator, his songs are full of sharply drawn tales and three-dimensional characters."[23]
AllMusic noted that McMurtry "has a smooth, low voice that carries a Western twang from his life in Texas."[15] Salon deemed the album full of "catchy and harsh country-folk songs filled with tortured Southern souls failing at love, failing at life or just talking about it in front of the gas station on a country road."[24] The Rolling Stone Album Guide labeled "Terry" "a great, unsentimental lament for a mixed-up rehab bad boy."[17]
Track listing edit
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Painting by Numbers" | |
| 2. | "Terry" | |
| 3. | "Shining Eyes" | |
| 4. | "Outskirts" | |
| 5. | "Song for a Deckhand's Daughter" | |
| 6. | "I'm Not from Here" | |
| 7. | "Too Long in the Wasteland" | |
| 8. | "Crazy Wind" | |
| 9. | "Poor Lost Soul" | |
| 10. | "Angeline" | |
| 11. | "Talkin' at the Texaco" |
References edit
- ^ Clifford, Craig E.; Hillis, Craig (October 1, 2016). Pickers and Poets: The Ruthlessly Poetic Singer-Songwriters of Texas. Texas A&M University Press.
- ^ "James McMurtry Biography, Songs, & Albums". AllMusic.
- ^ Slatta, Richard W. (December 13, 2001). The Mythical West: An Encyclopedia of Legend, Lore, and Popular Culture. ABC-CLIO.
- ^ a b Harrington, Richard (27 Aug 1989). "The Roots of McMurtry: The Novelist's Son, Writing Mini-Novel in Song". The Washington Post. p. G1.
- ^ Morse, Steve (21 Sep 1989). "Path Paved on Rural Country Blues". Arts and Film. The Boston Globe. p. 59.
- ^ "James McMurtry". Billboard.
- ^ Hochman, Steve (27 Sep 1989). "Rocking Beyond the Family Ties: This McMurtry Writes Songs, Not Novels". Calendar. Los Angeles Times. p. 1.
- ^ a b MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink Press. 1999. p. 739.
- ^ Masciotra, David (April 14, 2015). Mellencamp: American Troubadour. University Press of Kentucky.
- ^ Reid, Jan (July 5, 2010). The Improbable Rise of Redneck Rock: New Edition. University of Texas Press.
- ^ Hudson, Kathleen (Aug 1989). "The Son Also Rises". Spin. Vol. 5, no. 5. p. 20.
- ^ a b "James McMurtry". Trouser Press. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
- ^ a b Monahan, Casey (24 Aug 1989). "Clever McMurtry lyrics shore up masterful LP". Austin American-Statesman. p. G2.
- ^ Leland, John (27 Oct 1989). "Stark Stories from the Son of McMurtry". Weekend. Newsday. p. 15.
- ^ a b "Too Long in the Wasteland". AllMusic.
- ^ a b "James McMurtry". Robert Christgau.
- ^ a b The Rolling Stone Album Guide. Random House. 1992. p. 464.
- ^ McKeough, Kevin L. (October 15, 1992). "Rootless people: James McMurtry runs from the wasteland". Chicago Reader.
- ^ "Picks to Click". Texas Monthly. Vol. 17, no. 9. Sep 1989. p. 92.
- ^ Campbell, Rod (24 Dec 1989). "McMurtry provides feast for the senses". Edmonton Journal. p. D4.
- ^ Holden, Stephen (October 25, 1989). "The Pop Life". The New York Times.
- ^ Dafoe, Chris (9 Nov 1989). "Too Long in the Wasteland James McMurtry". The Globe and Mail. p. C10.
- ^ Joyce, Mike (29 Sep 1989). "McMurtry in Step with Big Daddy". The Washington Post. p. N26.
- ^ Athitakis, Mark (June 25, 1997). "James McMurtry". Salon.