John Murry July 14 new album; May & July UK shows announced
John Murry
releases new album ‘A Short History Of Decay’
– out 14 July 2017 on TV Records –
– Under A Darker Moon single released 26 May –
– May and July UK dates announced –
Watch filmmaker Steve Sweet’s video of a January 2017 exclusive session (and sonically markedly starker and different) recording of Silver And Lead,
the first track from John Murry’s A Short History of Decay.
Silver And Lead
John Murry will be playing a handful of select UK shows in May and July in support of his forthcoming album, A Short History Of Decay,
released on TV Records on 14th July. The shows are:
Thursday 4 May, Sandinos Bar, Derry, Northern Ireland
Saturday 6th & Sunday 7th May, Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival, Belfast
http://cqaf.com/2017/john-murry/
Friday 14th July, Rhythm Tree Festival, Isle Of Wight
http://www.rhythmtree.co.uk/home
Sunday 16 July, Nottingham, Rough Trade (instore)
Monday 17 July Bristol Rise (instore)
Tuesday 18 July, Rough Trade East, London (onstage 7:00pm – 7:45pm)
Wednesday 19th July, The Slaughtered Lamb, London
https://www.fatsoma.com/the-slaughtered-lamb/8rm412pm/john-murry
Saturday 22nd July, St Mary’s Church, Guildford
http://www.songkick.com/concerts/29822109-john-murry-at-st-marys-church
Praise for John Murry’s last album, The Graceless Age:
Uncut’ “a masterpiece” 9/10
Mojo 5/5
The Guardian ” a work of genius” 5/5
Q Magazine “Intensely beautiful… Like Father John Misty, Mark Lanegan and Josh T Pearson rolled into one really broken dream.”
John Murry – A Short History Of Decay
John Murry was adopted at birth into the family of William Faulkner. Some have speculated that the Faulkner blood might also run in his veins, but that should be left for a Southern Gothic novel yet to be written (or perhaps re-written). Raised in Tupelo, Mississippi, in the shadow of Elvis, his undiagnosed autism led to troubles at an early age which led to prescribed medication, which led to unprescribed medication which led to being institutionalised for addiction and mental health issues at a too young age. Eventually, discarded onto the streets of Memphis, he found music, which became the one constant positive force in his life. Memphis led to San Francisico and San Franciso led to heroin and heroin led to a near fatal overdose on the corner of 16th and Mission, so harrowingly memorialized in his song Little Colored Balloons.
Music again came to his rescue and led him to Tim Mooney (American Music Club) and the group of musicians that helped create his 2012 masterpiece “The Graceless Age”. The album was hailed by MOJO magazine and received a 5 out of 5 rating, UNCUT called it a “masterpiece”, both magazines included it in their Top 10 albums of the year; American Songwriter put it in their Top 5 of the year and The Guardian included it in their best of the year as well. The accolades rolled in and John toured the world. He entranced and devastated audiences with his raw, unfiltered live performances, and it looked like his trajectory was set, that music had won and would have the final word. And then Tim Mooney, John’s mentor, his beacon, his bedrock, died suddenly and unexpectedly… and John’s world fell back in to chaos.
Over the next few years, John would lose the footing that he had struggled so hard to establish. He would lose his wife, his daughter, temporarily his freedom and ultimately his country.
Somewhere along this journey, John crossed paths with Michael Timmins of Cowboy Junkies. John had opened for the band at a show in Glasgow and Michael watched side-stage transfixed by John’s performance. Over the next few years the two of them kept in touch, they talked about the music business, politics, books, but most of all they talked about music. And they talked about making an album together. Michael wanted to capture the rawness of John’s songs, capture the vibe that he experienced that night in Glasgow and was even more convinced of this approach when John came through Toronto opening for Chuck Prophet and did a solo set at The Horseshoe Tavern, which was as disarming and emotional as the set of music that he had experienced in Glasgow a couple of years earlier. “On The Graceless Age you can hear John’s affinity to artists such as Mark Linkous and Mark Lanegan, but seeing him on stage, with just his guitar and his songs reminded me of Townes (Van Zandt), that raw-boned, exquisite beauty, so real that it borders on the uncomfortable, you feel you should look away, but it’s just too compelling to do so. The pain, the intensity, the honesty just draws you deeper”.
Eventually John completed his descent and landed in Kilkenny, Ireland where he found some solid ground as part of a welcoming arts community. Michael then convinced him to travel to his Toronto studio where Michael put a band together consisting of brother Peter Timmins (Cowboy Junkies) on drums and Josh Finlayson (Skydiggers, Gord Downie, Lee Harvey Osmond) on bass. John brought along Cait O’Riordan (The Pogues, Elvis Costello) whom he had met in Ireland and who wanted to be a part of John’s journey. The five of them put aside five days to record all bedtracks and overdubs, with the brief that they would let the songs dictate where the journey took them, spontanaity was the order of the week. Michael Timmins describes the sessions, “I felt that it was important that John got out of his own way and that we set up a situation where he would just play and sing and the rest of us would just react, no second guessing, just react and capture the moment. It was a very inspired and inspiring week of playing and recording. Very intense. And I think we captured the raw essence of John’s writing and playing”.
A Short History Of Decay is an intensely personal document of an artist’s fall from grace. It contains all the tragic elements of that unwritten Southern Gothic novel: the revelations of a man coming to terms with the personal shortcomings, the flaws and the perverse twists of fate that led him to the end of one journey and the
A Short History of Decay is produced by Michael Timmins of The Cowboy Junkies, and also features Peter Timmins(Cowboy Junkies) on drums and Josh Finlayson
(Skydiggers, Gord Downie, Lee Harvey Osmond) on bass and Cait O’Riordan (The Pogues, Elvis Costello). The album will be released on 14th July, chosen
because it is Bastille Day, and because of the French connections to the book A Short History Of Decay, where John took the title from.
Produced by Michael Timmins (Cowboy Junkies)
John Murry Vocals, Guitar and Keyboards
Peter Timmins Drums, (Cowboy Junkies)
Josh Finlayson Bass (Skydiggers)
Cait O’Riordan Backing Vocals (The Pogues, Elvis Costello)
Track Listing:
1. Silver Or Lead
2. Under A Darker Moon
3. Wrong Man
4. Defacing Sunday Bulletins
5. When God Walks In
6. Come Five & Twenty
7. One Day (You’ll Die)
8. Countess Lola’s Blues
(All In This Together)
9. Miss Magdalene
10. What Jail Is Like