JOHN MURRY

The Graceless Age

johnmurry.com

On one level, there’s a shuffling, off-the-cuff feel to John Murry’s music. Singing songs about heartache and heroin addiction, he’s got the laid-back strum and rough, jaded delivery of a been-there, took-that, lived-to-tell troubadour. But there’s nothing casual about The Graceless Age, an album of dense, meticulous sonic collages masquerading as alt-country tunes. Murry’s backstory is as cluttered—or rich, rather—as his arrangements. Born in Tupelo, he’s the second cousin of novelist William Faulkner. He nearly died in San Francisco of an overdose, and he stuffs this album with personal baggage and Southern Gothic imagery invoking his family history. It’s a lot to unpack, but it’s well worth the effort.