John Murry - Califorlornia EP (Vinyl)

By: John Murry, Released in 2014.

Physical format available - 10” vinyl.

Life is Hard. With few exceptions, that's how most people experience the days allotted them, and there are really only two approaches to this sad, sorry truth - defeat and a long, crushing slog towards the abyss or a scrappy, bruised knuckle will to live. Oh sure, there's also denial and all manner of stupors one can knock their head into, but it's the fighters, the ones who see it as it is and keep getting up and going at it, that inspire us. John Murry wears the mantle of working class hero poorly but it suits him, his big, battered lover's heart leading the way into battle, his eyes clear and fists clenched even though he knows in his marrow that the war ain't ever over 'til it's won, and who the hell knows when Victory Day will arrive, if it ever does?

What you will hold in your hands, these four sumptuously rough-hewn gems, is kin to what Springsteen discovered on the dark edge of town, what Johnny Cash understood as the scythe swung near, what Warren Zevon knew in his cantakerous bones - i.e. that one must cry out, "I don't wanna live! I don't wanna die!" and then pour everything in them into making that cracked non-denominational prayer into a breathing reality. It seems simple enough but the barriers to molding such an existence are many, not least the trapdoors and barbed snares that abound in our minds. After embracing corrosive despair, Murry returns - scarred and scared, as a man should be after the roads he's walked - to carve a path through the nightmare blues, knowing how love can torture an orphan one but still holding it as a torch against the shadows, warmth for those willing and able to come close, certain some light is better than no light, knowing we might not get it right but we'll get it done just the same.

- Dennis Cook 

Tracklist
Glass Slipper
Golden State
Genius
Timmy
I Need You (Bonus Track)
California (alternate version from the graceless age sessions) [bonus track]
The Murder of Dylan Hartsfeld (bonus track)