James McMurtry: The Black Dog Weird Al songs in his head. These are some of the strange and richly drawn characters who inhabit James McMurtrys eleventh album, The Black Dog rolling guitars, barroom harmonies, traces of banjo and harmonicabut sound too sly and smart for such a general category. Funny and sad often in the same breath, the album adds a new chapter to a long career that has enjoyed a resurgence as young songwriters like Sarah Jarosz and Jason Isbell cite him as a formative influenc...