If James McMurtry follows the writer's maxim to "write what you know," he must be an unhappy guy.

There aren't many hazards common to the human condition he doesn't explore in his rambling, varied stories about woe, anxiety and squalor. Wednesday night's songlist included tunes about incest, drunks, aging, car accidents and Western expansion. Maybe that explains why McMurtry doesn't smile.

At least not in Salt Lake, where McMurtry played the 13th show in a 19-gig run through the West and Southwest at The State Room. The singer-songwriter-guitarist expressed his displeasure early on with the soundman making his group's tone too "clean," ("It sounds like American Bandstand up here.") and with an expletive-heavy request for audience members to quit shooting video of the concert.

McMurtry drew heavily from his last two albums -- "Just Us Kids" and "Childish Things"-- to form the show's setlist, although undoubtedly the night's biggest highlight was "Choctaw Bingo," from 2002's "Saint Mary of the Woods," which prompted one female fan to throw her bra onstage. That action drew cheers, but what drew even bigger cheers was how the item of underwear hung out of McMurtry's way on his guitar's neck and how he let it stay there until the song crashed to an end a few minutes later.

Many of the fans down front could be seen singing along to virtually every one of the 17 songs. While typical at concerts, it's particularly impressive at a McMurtry show because his songs are lyrical tornadoes, with many cruising up on the eight-minute mark and featuring wall-to-wall lyrics that usually touch on everything from bison to methamphetamine along the way.

McMurtry, based in Austin, Texas, is exceptionally good at getting across those snowball lyrics. Most singers are tough to follow unless you know the words. Not McMurtry. The chilling tales of drug abuse and incest in "Fire Line Road," the good-natured pessimism of "Red Dress," and the angry desperation of "Hurricane Party" all translated hauntingly, thanks to the singer's surly, yet charming, Texas growl.

The sold-out crowd, which arrived much earlier than normal for a State Room show, was entertained by former Dedringers frontman Jonny Burke. The singer, also an Austin native, led his trio through a 45-minute opening set filled with straight-up Texas rock 'n' roll.

Unfortunately, maybe because they'd been at it for a while, many folks filed out at the end of McMurtry's two-hour set and missed his haunting solo performance of "Holiday," in which the singer tells a tale filled with death on the highway, isolation and family get-togethers.

While that might seem like an incoherent grouping, as usual McMurtry wove it all together.

smurphy@sltrib.com