In 2003, James McMurtry joined forces with Houston’s Compadre Records and released the universally praised Live in Aught-Three. The new album, Childish Things, features ten new McMurtry-penned tunes as well as covers of Peter Case’s “The Old Part of Town” and the country standard “Ole Slew Foot.”

While Childish Things isn’t an overtly political record, the centerpiece has to be “We Can’t Make It Here,” McMurtry’s commentary on the current state of the union. “I've always been a little put off by activists. So you know it's a dire situation when I have to become one myself,” he explains. McMurtry made the song available as a free download on his website during the 2004 election. The response to the track was immediate and overwhelming and the song continues to be one of the most requested on stations across the country. Stephen King described the song as “stark and wrenchingly direct, this may be the best American protest song since (Bob Dylan’s) ‘Masters of War.’” Childish Things marks the first time the track will be available on disc without FCC-sensitive words censored.

Author Stephen King describes Ft. Worth native McMurtry as “the truest, fiercest songwriter of his generation.” The son of acclaimed author Larry McMurtry (Lonesome Dove, Terms of Endearment), James grew up on a steady diet of Johnny Cash and Roy Acuff records. His first album, released in 1989, was produced by John Mellencamp and marked the beginning of a series of critically acclaimed projects for Columbia and Sugar Hill.