A Lone Star sheriff hunts quail on horseback and keeps a secret second family. A mechanic lies among the spare parts on the floor of his garage and wonders if he can afford to keep his girlfriend. A troubled man sees hallucinations of a black dog and a wandering boy and hums “Weird Al” songs in his head. These are some of the strange and richly drawn characters who inhabit James McMurtry’s eleventh album, The Black Dog & the Wandering Boy. A supremely insightful and inventive storyteller, he teases vivid worlds out of small details, setting them to arrangements that have the elements of Americana—rolling guitars, barroom harmonies, traces of banjo and harmonica—but 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 influence.
Southern Wisconsin's Most Charming Theatre
The historic Stoughton Opera House is located in Stoughton, WI just a few minutes south-east of Madison. The theater plays host to a wide variety of musical and theatrical performances throughout the season - rock, folk, classical, oddities, comedy...you name it. Known for sublime acoustics and an early 20th century aesthetic, don't pass on a chance to see a show or just pay a visit to the Stoughton Opera House.