The Communicators Present: Nightmare on Station Street

“The Communicators are one of Chattanooga’s favorite party bands, and it just seemed fitting to have them play our Halloween event,” says Mike Dougher, Songbirds talent buyer. “We’ll have street entertainers, a costume contest, a photo area and more.”

The Communicators will be playing all your favorite hits from the ’90s as well as re-creating Snoop Dogg’s “Doggystyle” album.

If the McMurtry name sounds familiar, it might be because James McMurtry’s father is Larry McMurtry, author of “Terms of Endearment,” “The Last Picture Show” and the Lonesome Dove series.

It was dad who put a guitar in the hands of son James when the boy was 7. His mother, an English teacher, taught him how to play it.

Now he’s coming up on the 30th anniversary of his successful 1989 debut album, “Too Long in the Wasteland,” produced by John Mellencamp. And he shows no sign of slowing down.

“James McMurtry is a singer-songwriter that would fall into the Americana genre,” Mike Dougher, Songbirds talent buyer, describes. “He’s not shy about placing his political thoughts into song — and when he does, people pay attention. It’s always a powerful show with worldclass musicians surrounding him.” It’s been said McMurtry writes “with a novelist’s eye.” The Washington Post agreed, “Much attention is paid to James McMurtry’s lyrics, and rightfully so. He creates a novel’s worth of emotion and experience in four minutes of blisteringly stark couplets. What gets overlooked, however, is that he’s an accomplished rock guitar player.”

FACEBOOK. COM The Communicators will play for Nightmare on Station Street on Saturday night at Songbirds.

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO BY CONQUEROO MEDIA James McMurtry