James Mc Murtry: Our Next Poet Laureate? " Just Us Kids"

Sooooo... Mc Murtry is just the best. Very simple, very straightforward. Just the best. While the Old 97’s never change and I love them, Mc Murtry simply writes the best, most cogent songs at any given time, in the whole country. Steve Earle might come close but even he is erratic and only good when passionately outraged. Mc Murtry on the other hand writes two to three classics on every CD. Some rock, some lilt and all of them stab you in the heart. His catalogue of music is something to be owned and cherished and this is not exception.

Ronnie Johnson and Darren Hess on bass and drums are rock solid as always. These guys have had excellent careers with other bands. Huss was with the Silos and Green on Red as well as Poi Dog Pondering and Dave Alvin. Ronnie Johnson spent time playing with the Ronnie Lane Group, The Shakin Apostles and Ron Wiley Hubbard. These guys can play and he has played with them for quite a while. There is a lot to be said for solo acts having the same band for years and years. Elvis Costello comes immediately to mind as well as Graham Parker. people come in and out but there is something about playing together over time and tightens the screws.... is a good way.

He kicks off and I mean kicks it off with “Turtle Bayou”. Though it is no “Choctaw Bingo” it is just another night in poor white trash land. The title cut is a lilting and rollicking romp about success and never growing up. He hits a couple of political songs about our failed administration in “God Bless America (Pat Macdonald Must Die)” and “Cheney’s Toy”. The latter has drawn a lot of conservative ire but he really is just singing about the President. “Freeway View” is a nice song but “Hurricane Party” is a heart breaker and is just a great, great song, story, novel, ode...:

“My one great love, my God, I can feel her still
She ran off to California and now she's living in those Hollywood hills
With some bullfrog prince, I've not seen her since
Though she calls when he's out of town
And there's no one to talk to when the lines go down”.
Indeed!

He follows with the best song of the album (in my humble opinion) “Ruby and Carlos”. What makes Mc Murtry so great are the characters he draws and in this one he draws a star-crossed romance which you would call a spring/winter romance, were not both of them so dead inside. Beautiful, sad stuff. Carlos is a drummer and has left Ruby to live in Nashville after coming back from the war.

“Lately he’s been staying high.
Sick all winter and they don’t know why.
They don’t know why or they just won’t say.
They don’t talk much down at the V.A.”

He follows that with a little instrumental. “Fireline Road” is a bleak story of poverty, addiction and loss. “The Governor” is a troubling song about some guys killed by a rich guys boat in Texas.... unsolved. “Ruins Of The Realm” is just another biting commentary on... us.

“We got the National Guard with the bayonets
We got the ten commandments on the State House steps
We shalt not steal and we shalt not kill
Dancin' in the ruins of our own free will
Dancin' in the ruins of the South
Confederate flag taped over my mouth.’
he closes with “Leonard Cohen Must Die” which is... self explanatory. I always liked the guy myself.
Bottom line. Buy this one. If you do not buy it then download 3 or 4 of these gems. Drink some bourbon, smoke a Camel and smile.

9 Slingers on the 10 scale.

JUST US KIDS debuts on FOUR Billboard Charts!
James McMurtry's new album, JUST US KIDS, debuts in Billboard Magazine on the following charts:
Heatseekers Chart #2
Tastemaker Chart #6
Indie Label Chart #18
Top 200 album sales chart #136