"Two things about McMurtry up front: Nobody in Austin is doing anything quite like his music right now, and his talent as a lyricist is well above the vast majority of young songwriters in town."
- Peter Blackstock, The Austin American-Statesman

"Backed by a stand-up bass, cello and occasionally a horn section, McMurtry epitomizes the catch-all nature of Americana."
- RollingStone

"Delivered against the most sinister registers of cello and banjo, and often punctuated by muted horns and booming percussion, the songs evoke the feel of a near-future dystopian novel, a preparation for battle in something uncomfortably close to end times.”
- Stacy Chandler, No Depression

"Through the storm of our world’s repeated tragedies, rising threats, and scattered anxieties comes Curtis McMurtry’s new album, Toothless Messiah. It’s somehow at once a thunderclap(!) and a hushed, rising flood, flushing out the ugly truths about power and human nature, forcing us to gaze down into the pooled waters at our own reflection."
- Jenny Inzerillo, High Plains Public Radio

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