Yesterday, while painfully weaving my way through west LA traffic on the way to band practice, I found myself stopped at the intersection of Hollywood and Highland waiting (and waiting) for the light to change. Next to me was a hulking, black Hummer (seriously WHY do you need a large vehicle like that in Hollywood? WHY?!?). In stark contrast, James McMurtry's excellent latest release, Just Us Kids, was blaring over my car's speakers.
The low angle of the sun cast a surreal amber light on the buildings and found myself criticizing every person in car and foot around me. Just Us Kids seemed like the perfect soundtrack at that moment, speaking to me, saying, "SEE?!? See how fucked UP things have become?!? All these people are OBLIVIOUS!"
Just Us Kids displays McMurtry's guttural roots-based hard electric folk that combines the vocal styling of Dire Straights with the sublime story telling of John Prine.
McMurtry is a classic story teller. Just Us Kids contains pointed social commentary at the current state of affairs in American society. Whether it be frustration at the war in Iraq ("Cheney's Toy" and "God Bless America") or the devastation from Katrina ("Hurricane Party"), the songs engage and suck the listener in, every note from the band perfectly complimenting the biting lyrics.
Especially relevant to the moment referred to above is "God Bless America". In light of the oil rig explosion in the gulf, and glaring at the hunk-of-shit ass clown sitting in the Hummer next to me, the song in retrospect seems almost prophetic. We are a selfish, fearful, greedy, blind bunch of fools, arrogantly and obliviously speeding off the abyss.
The production is kept extremely clean and minimal, allowing the low-tuned guitar to ring through without a lot of over production, but still have a punch and impact of a finely crafted recording.
A great album to inspire me for band practice. :)