James Mcmurtry October 4, 2012

On Just Us Kids, James McMurtry follows up his critically acclaimed Childish Things with a dozen new, sharply drawn illuminations as he continues to hone and expand his considerable gifts. And the self-produced opus (James’ fourth venture pulling strings on both sides of the glass) unquestionably represents his most ambitious, accomplished and ass-kicking presentation to date. Just Us Kids will be the first release for Nashville-based Lightning Rod Records; label president Logan Rogers previously worked as Vice President of A&R for Compadre Records on McMurtry’s previous two albums. The Texas native long has been known as an astute, clear-eyed observer and concise, no-holds-barred chronicler of the human condition, but a growing socio-political edge fairly exploded just prior to the 2004 elections when his scathing, palace-rattling “We Can’t Make It Here” was made available online as a free download. The seven-plus-minute diatribe against social injustice and the Administration’s hypocrisy and deceptions repercussed wildly across the Internet and the airwaves, igniting a grassroots firestorm that has brought legions of new fans to the singer/songwriter’s work. As of this writing, fan-made videos of “We Can’t Make It Here” have been viewed more than 150,000 times on YouTube. Released in autumn of 2005, Childish Things featured an uncensored version of “We Can’t Make It Here”; the CD spent six weeks at #1 on R&R’s Americana Music Radio Chart in 2005/2006 and racked up James’ best sales totals in a decade en route to capturing nods for both Best Song and Best Album from the Fifth Annual Americana Music Association Honors and Awards. Just Us Kids — McMurtry’s ninth full-length album — picks up on the heat of Childish Things, and while he insists that “the majority of the songs are not political,” it’s also clear that he’s not even close to abandoning his burgeoning role as a searing political gadfly.

Official Website: http://www.fetemusic.com/event/james-mcmurty/