True enough: Alvin conjures desperate characters in songs whose grim lyrics are often offset by sharp guitar hooks and buoyant organ melodies, whereas McMurtry draws on muted cries of pain from the heartland for his more linear storytelling. He’s not given to big melodic peaks and valleys, relying instead on little details in both his words and music. He can and did rock, but his strength is as a wordsmith, and that in part is why the terse anthem “We Can’t Make It Here” carried the night. Written prior to Bush’s election in 2004, it hasn’t lost any of its bite.

“He’s really negative,” said Leigh Montville, a sportswriter (formerly Globe, now Sports Illustrated) and biographer who was in the crowd. Not wanting to be misunderstood, he added, “But he’s great.”

In his black hat and beard, the long-haired McMurtry cruised up and down bittersweet alleys, sometimes at too even a keel. Still, his steady-ahead approach had a cumulative appeal. “It’s been a lot of fun, folks,” he deadpanned at the end. Alvin and his guys cranked out a smoking set of what Little Feat once called “Old Folks Boogie.” Keyboardist Joe Terry had his synth dialed to Hammond B-3 and guitarists Chris Miller and Alvin himself kept the musical good times rolling even as bad times surfaced in the lyrics.