James McMurtry - Just Us Kids

There's an angry feeling to a lot of McMurtry's newest disc, much as there was in his 2005 Childish Things, a bleak and furious voice that leads to such lyrics as "dancing in the ruins of the realm, a fool and a madman at the helm," and, well, pretty much the entire song "Cheney's Toy." Still, for all that bitterness and caged fury, it's not all protest music. No, McMurtry is still stretching himself as a singer and songwriter, and with this effort, he's also stepping forward as a producer. He continues to hone his craft and proves without any doubts whatsoever that he is ready to take his place with other Americana songwriters, from Billy Joe Shaver to Kris Kristofferson. His melodies are powerful, spare and uplifting even as his lyrics are provocative and intelligent. These aren't songs that you can hum - but listen to them for a while, and they will be songs that crawl under your skin and force you to think a little bit about not only yourself and your place in the world, but that wider world around you itself. He pulls no punches when he talks about life today, growing up and making your way today. With the title track he touches on graffiti punks maturing into dot-com entrepreneurs, themselves growing old as the years pass, proving that time touches each and every one of us.

McMurtry and I share a certain amount in common, I think, going from this press release. I write prose, he writes poetry. We're only a few years apart in age, we grew up in the American Southwest, we both studied English at the University of Arizona. He's just finished his ninth full-length album, while I'm still trying to publish my first novel. I became a fan of his father's work sometime around the release of Lonesome Dove, but oddly enough, I recently discovered I actually own James' first album - on vinyl - which I must have bought during one of my many trips through used record stores, so I've been listening to him longer than I thought. He and I also seem to have the same general mindset when it comes to what's happening in America these days. His lyrics speak to that angry liberal who crouches in the back of my head and cries with fury every time someone uses 9/11 as a bludgeon to keep the American people in line with so-called "conservative" thinking. What McMurtry can do with music is very much what Dylan was able to do back in the 60's. The ability to combine the emotions he does on this disc, and it's not just righteous rage, but also love and sorrow and joy and passion, is something that astounds me. I can string words together - McMurtry can make them speak.

Release Date: April 15, 2008 - Label: Lightning Rod Records