After a run of successful (and exclusively unofficial) SXSW gigs last week, alt-country mastermind James McMurtry has announced plans for a North American summer tour, kicking off on May 26 at Boulder's eTown.

"Back before Napster and Spotify, we toured to promote record sales," McMurtry remarked in a recent statement. "Now we make records to promote tour dates."

The most recent addition to his rock-solid discography is Complicated Gamea collection of acoustic-focused songs that finds the storyteller at a significant point in his career; while he's flown under-the-radar since the late '80s, McMurtry seems to be gaining more and more attention thanks to his latest studio effort.

Complicated Game -- produced by acclaimed Louisiana producer C.C. Adcock -- is McMurtry's first full-length album since 2008's Just Us Kids. During that time, though, McMurtry never left the grind of the road. "We have to stay on the road as much as we can to make a living," he recently told us before a gig at New York City's Mercury Lounge. "I’d come in for a week and lay down some tracks and go off on the road again."

Even with the impending summer tour, McMurtry really isn't taking a break. In fact, he's on the road throughout the month of April, including a gig at the esteemed Bowery Ballroom in New York and the artist-preferred Knuckleheads Saloon in Kansas City. You can find his current tour itinerary here, and his new summer dates below.

Complicated Game is out now on digital, CD and vinyl formats; make sure to get details on the record at McMurtry's official website.

James McMurtry Summer 2015 Tour
May 26: Boulder, Co. -- eTown
May 27: Denver, Co. -- Oriental Theater
May 28: Grand Junction, Co. -- Edgewater Brewery
May 29: Ogden, Utah -- Ogden Music Festival
May 30: Victor, Idaho -- Knotty Pine
May 31: Virginia City, Mont. -- Wells Fargo House
June 2: Whitefish, Mont. -- Great Northern
June 3: Missoula, Mont. -- Top Hat
June 4: Spokane, Wash. -- The Bartlett
June 5: Vancouver, B.C. -- Biltmore Cabaret
June 6: Seattle, Wash. -- Tractor Tavern
June 7: Portland, Ore. -- Aladdin
June 10: Chico, Calif. -- The Butcher Shop
June 11: Reno, Nev. -- Cargo @ Whitney Peak Hotel
June 12: Felton, Calif. -- Don Quixote's
June 13: San Francisco, Calif. -- The Chapel
June 16: Los Angeles, Calif. -- The Troubadour
June 17: Solana Beach, Calif. -- Belly Up
June 18: Pioneertown, Calif. -- Pappy & Harriet’s
June 19: Phoenix, Az. -- Crescent Ballroom
June 20: Santa Fe, N.M. -- The Skylight

Exclusive Video: Watch James McMurtry Perform "These Things"

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