James McMurtry // The Black Dog and The Wandering Boy Tour with special guest BettySoo
Tuesday, March 9, 2027
6:30 pm Doors // 7:30 pm Music
All Ages
$35 ($43.85 w. taxes/fees) Reserved Seating
$30 ($38.07 w. taxes/fees) Advance General Admission
$35 ($40 w. taxes/fees) At The Door General Admission
Ticket purchases are final and non-refundable
Hailed as one of the Lone Star state’s most respected songwriters, James McMurtry comes to The Parkway celebrating his acclaimed 11th studio album, The Black Dog and The Wandering Boy. Fellow Texan BettySoo, called “Austin’s Asian-American Sweetheart,” kicks off the night!
"One of America's greatest living songwriters" – Rolling Stone
"The consistency of such evocative, specific details has earned McMurtry the prestigious designation of songwriter's songwriter. He is the type of performer other musicians revere, cite as an influence, and love to collaborate with..." – Texas Monthly
"...there is so much to digest in the music of James McMurtry and this new album is filled with ample proof of his many gifts and talent." – Lonesome Highway
“James McMurtry may be the truest, fiercest songwriter of his generation. Over a career spanning more than three decades, he has built a body of work that stands apart — unflinching dispatches from the American interior, set to arrangements too sly and smart for easy categorization.” – Stephen King
The 10-song collection, co-produced by McMurtry & Don Dixon (R.E.M., The Smithereens), is his first album in four years. As varied as they are, McMurtry’s new story-songs find inspiration in scraps from his family’s past: a rough pencil sketch by Ken Kesey that serves as the album cover, the hallucinations experienced by his father, the legendary writer Larry McMurtry, an old poem by a family friend. A supremely insightful and inventive storyteller, McMurtry teases vivid worlds out of small details, setting them to arrangements that have elements of Americana but sound too sly and smart for such a general category. Funny and sad often in the same breath, The Black Dog and The Wandering Boy adds a new chapter to a long career that has young songwriters like Sarah Jarosz and Jason Isbell cite him as a formative influence.
THE 30 BEST ROCK ALBUMS OF 2025 – Pitchfork
THE 25 BEST COUNTRY & AMERICANA ALBUMS OF 2025 – Rolling Stone
#1 “TOP 5 COUNTRY ALBUMS OF 2025 – Classic Rock Magazine (UK)
#2 READERS FAVORITE ROOTS ALBUMS OF 2025 – No Depression
SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR – Saving Country Music
THE 25 BEST AMERICANA ALBUMS OF 2025 – Pop Matters
MOST ESSENTIAL ALBUMS OF 2025 – Saving Country Music
THE 20 BEST ALBUMS OF 2025 – Glide Magazine
FAVORITE AMERICANA ALBUMS OF 2025 – Americana Highways
“BettySoo may well have the most gorgeous voice in Texas …if not in all contemporary folk – its purity and strength can be downright devastating.” – Acoustic Guitar
Raised outside Houston by first-generation Korean immigrant parents, BettySoo grew up listening to the Great American songbook and country radio. Older sisters led her to the world of singer/songwriters, and nights spent at The Cactus Café and Hole In The Wall turned her on to the legacy of Texas song.
Her 2007 solo disc, Little Tiny Secrets, garnered heavy regional airplay; 2009’s Heat Sin Water Sin produced by Gurf Morlix (Lucinda Williams, Ray Wylie Hubbard), provided building blocks to a national (and international) audience. In 2014, When We’re Gone, co-produced with cellist Brian Standefer (Alejandro Escovedo, Terry Allen) placed her firmly in the first rank of songwriters working today.
She’s won the requisite awards: Kerrville NewFolk, Big Top Chautauqua Songwriter of the Year, Dave Carter Songwriting Award at Sisters Folk Festival, Mountain Stage NewSong Competition. She’s played the festivals: multiple SXSW’s, Kerrville, Calgary, and more. And the radio shows: E-Town, Mountain Stage, WoodSongs, BBC 2 with Bob Harris.
BettySoo tours nonstop, these days either as a solo headliner or as dedicated support for James McMurtry and Chris Smither. Along with her agile guitar playing, her intelligent, tightly-constructed lyrics and captivating melodies keep audiences entranced, and if you're lucky, you’ll also find her onstage demonstrating her other super-power when she is singing harmonies with various luminaries.