Throughout James McMurtry's decades as a writing and recording musician, he's always spoken his mind. His songs have taken up the issues of war, poverty, addiction and matters of the heart in equal measure and with equal precision.
He can be heard addressing some of those concerns on his most recent album, "The Horses and Hounds" (2021), which garnered universal critical acclaim.
In a 2022 interview with KMUW, he spoke about the need for audiences to hear themselves in his songs, noting that his song "We Can't Make It Here" became popular because people could hear themselves in the frustrations expressed in its lines.
His song "Cheney's Toy," a topical piece, landed different.
"[Those songs] were in a similar vein but 'Cheney's Toy' was written about what was going on at the time." McMurtry said. "People thought I was saying that the soldiers were Cheney's toys when I actually thought George W. Bush was Cheney's toy."
In his 2023 interview, he was clearer about his stance on legislation that would make the lives of the LGBTQ+ community more difficult. And he's lent his voice to a chorus that stands in opposition to anti-drag bills.
During shows in Tennessee, he wore a red dress while performing his 2022 song of the same name.
"This is how fascism gets going," he said, speaking from his Texas home. "They target small minorities who have a hard time fighting back and for whom not a lot of mainstream people will fight. It's up to all of us to stay on top of that."
He further cited a Texas state senate bill, which would ban "sexually explicit or suggestive performances while minors are present" in Texas businesses.
"I might have to put the damn red dress back on," he said. "I didn't expect that to be a regular thing, but that's my little bit that I can do."
He adds that he doesn't think that music itself will lead to significant changes in legislation or culture but that it's one cog in the wheel.
"Me wearing a dress is not going to solve anything by itself," he said. "It's a small act of defiance; it gets headlines and it points people to the issue, but everybody's got to get into the act."
He added that anti-drag and anti-LGBTQ+ legislation is the latest in a long line of social specters that has included literature, comic books, films and music in the past.
"The right always has to have a new boogeyman to make you scared of," McMurtry said. "There's this thing going around about drag queens coming to schools to indoctrinate your children. You can't turn a straight kid gay. These people know that.
"What they're really afraid of is that if any LGBTQ [people] are accepted in society at large and one of their kids is wired for that, their kid might come out and that brings shame on the family name, which is still a big deal in small towns."
Small towns, he said, are a place where everyone knows everyone else's business and has an opinion about it.
"You've got good neighbors who might help you out when a tornado comes along, but those same neighbors are watching you like a hawk," he said. "There's a lot of groupthink, a lot of herd mentality. You can get ostracized pretty easily."
He's calling on fans and other like-minded individuals to end support for anti-drag legislation.
"You can't stand by," he offers, citing German minister Martin Niemöller's famous writing, "First they came …" which lists a series of groups under attack.
In the lines, the speaker insists that they did not speak out because they were not part of the group under attack. In the end, however, they find themselves "taken" by these forces because there is no one left to speak out for them.
"Make no mistake," added McMurtry, "they will come for all of us. So, basically, we're all drag queens."
He said that one of the problems comes with voting.
"The poor are going to have to do more work, and they don't have time to do that," McMurtry said. "These people in small towns can go to the courthouse and vote on their lunch hour. On the east side of Austin, you might have to stand in line for three hours to vote. You're being docked for every hour because [Election Day] is not a holiday, which it should be.
"Nobody should have to suffer economic hardship to do their civic duty."
