James McMurtry
(Lightning Rod)
If you’ve heard “God Bless America,” the bitter, biting indictment of our political and corporate leaders first released in 2007, then all you really need to know about Just Us Kids is that it’s not even the best song on the album, which is the best of McMurtry’s career. Hell, it’s not even the best political song on the album, an honor that goes to the swampy “The Governor,” whose metaphor stands in sharp contrast to the explicit (but still moving) anti-war proclamations of “Cheney’s Toy.”
But there’s not much here that’s not colored by politics in one way or another, whether the tender portrait of a vet’s love affair in “Ruby and Carlos” or in “Ruins of the Realm,” a tender rumination on living in a fallen empire, whether that empire’s the United States or just your own broken life. But the real stunner here is “Fire Line Road,” a tale of sexual abuse that will stop you in your tracks.
Standout tracks: “Fire Line Road” “Bayou Tortous” ERIC SCHUMACHER-RASMUSSEN
