November 02 2026

Mortal
James Curley
Sidewalking Crab Records
By Grant Britt

James Curley is no longer a band guy. The Chicago-based singer/songwriter says he now wants to rely on sparse production values, utilizing a stripped-down sound. His latest, Mortal, on his own Sidewalking Crab Records, reflects that decision. That doesn't mean it's just him and an acoustic guitar, but the addition of a skeleton crew providing sparse accompaniment on pedal steel, accordion, and drums came after Curley had recorded his parts solo on two vintage mics.
Although his voice is mellow, like riding along in a well-broken-in, comfortable saddle, the subject matter is not. Curley tackles some tough issues.

“Anna Tried” is a close-up look at addiction from a woman “stubborn as a concrete fence.” As narrator,
observer and friend, Curley blames himself for not doing more to help. “I once believed I could imagine
what it was like to face her dragons,” he confesses, but “Now I feel I was telling myself lies/Cause Anna
tried.”

“Better Angels” addresses mass shootings. “Read the news this morning/ happened once again—people
scattered, bullets shattered.” Curley borrowed a quote from Abraham Lincoln's inaugural address in 1861
to make his point: “The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to
every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when
again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature,” Lincoln said. Curley calls on that
angelic part of the collective consciousness of the nation to do some healing: “We need help to stop the
madness/We need common ground.”

Curley reflects on the passage of his mother and his Irish heritage on “Come Home To Tir na n0g,” the
Irish land of eternal youth where there is no pain or sorrow. “I Am Here For You” is a proclamation of eternal love tempered with patience: “I am here for you/ Take your own sweet time,” Curley vows. Mortal addresses a variety of ills, providing a common-sense approach to those societal things that can be changed and a soothing balm for things of a more personal nature that need a little more love and affection.

Grant Britt (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) has been writing about music since the earth cooled a while back. A staff writer for No Depression, his work also appears in BluesMusic Mag and the Greensboro News and Record. 

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