Rodney Parker: The Broken Yards, Curtis McMurtry

The Broken Yards is Rodney Parker accompanied by Brook Wallace on Fiddle and Hillary Early on Pedal Steel. More intimate than a 50 Peso Reward show, Rodney still plays all of the favorites plus some surprises.

Though Curtis McMurtry is only 23 years of age, many of the characters in his songs seem to have given up on life decades ago. His debut solo album Respectable Enemy (due out August 2014) chronicles the narrations of unapologetically bitter individuals still haunted by the ghosts of lovers and friends they have long since driven away. Few other songwriters inhabit such lonely, spiteful people with such conviction. From the doomed narrator of "Foxhole" to the resigned nostalgia of "Eleanor's House" Curtis writes to break your heart into sharp, jagged pieces.

Curtis was born and raised in Austin, Texas and grew up listening to local songwriters like Matt The Electrician, Jon Dee Graham, and his father, James McMurtry. From 2009-2013 Curtis studied music composition at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York, primarily writing contemporary chamber music for banjo and strings. In 2013, Curtis moved to Nashville to sharpen his songwriting skills by co-writing with veteran writers including Fred Koller and Guy Clark.

Curtis currently studies music at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York. In September 2010, Curtis started a new project, Friendly Strangers. Influenced by new acoustic acts such as Punch Brothers and Crooked Still, Friendly Strangers combine traditional folk instruments like the banjo and accordion with their love of less traditional song structures and melodic dissonance in an attempt to create music that is both pointy and tentacled. Friendly Strangers' debut, Where We Go, We Grow is avaiblable here!