James McMurtry to Play Skipper's Smokehouse Jan. 31

TAMPA — Folk Rock/Americana troubador James McMurtry, who Rolling Stone called "one of America's greatest living songwriters," brings his Black Dog and the Wandering Boy tour to Skipper's Smokehouse on Saturday, January 31. Tickets are currently available.

McMurtry is a songwriter's songwriter, having earned high praise from such renowned artists as John Mellencamp and Patterson Hood. Best-selling author and part-time musician Stephen King said, "James McMurtry may be the truest, fiercest songwriter of his generation."

The son of acclaimed novelist Larry McMurtry (Lonesome Dove, The Last Picture Show, Terms of Endearment), he  received his first guitar from his father at the tender age of 7. Moving from Fort Worth to Virginia, McMurtry began playing in his teens.

He found success at the Kerrville Folk Festival New Folk Songwriter Contest and soon after gave a demo tape to Mellencamp, who would go on to co-produce his first album. McMurtry would later play in a supergroup called Buzzin' Cousins with Mellencamp, John Prine, Joe Ely, and Dwight Yoakam.

For over 35 years, McMurtry has traveled well-worn roads, singing his stories to a loyal and ever-growing audience. For this leg of the tour, Betty Soo, a powerful voice in her own right who often sits in on some of his numbers, will open the shows.

Doors open at 7 for an 8 p.m. show. Click here to purchase tickets.