Complicated Game

James McMurtry spins stories with a poet's pen ('Long Island Shores') and a painter's precision ('She Loves Me'). Proof: The acclaimed songwriter's new 'Complicated Game'. McMurtry's first collection in six years spotlights a craftsman in absolutely peak form as he turns from political toward personal ('These Things I've Come to Know, You Got to Me'). 'The lyrical theme is mostly about relationships', McMurtry says. 'It's also a little about the big old world verses the poor little farmer or fisherman. I never make a conscious decision about what to write about.'