McMurtry announces first studio disc in seven years

"There's a definite Los Angeles vibe to this record," McMurtry said. "The ghost of Warren Zevon seems to be stomping around among the guitar tracks. Don't know how he got in there. He never signed on for work for hire."

McMurtry recorded the new album with producer Ross Hogarth (Ozzy Osbourne, John Fogerty, Van Halen, Keb' Mo') at Jackson Browne's Groove Masters in Santa Monica, Cal.

McMurtry and Hogarth first worked together 30 years ago, when Hogarth was a recording engineer John Mellencamp's own Belmont Studios near Bloomington, Ind. Hogarth recorded McMurtry's first two albums, "Too Long in the Wasteland" and "Candyland," for Columbia Records and later mixed McMurtry's first self-produced album, "Saint Mary of the Woods," for Sugar Hill Records. Another veteran of those three releases, guitarist David Grissom (Joe Ely, John Mellencamp, Dixie Chicks), returns.