James McMurtry - Just Us Kids

Check out what folks are saying about:

“James McMurtry is a true Americana poet – actually he is a poet regardless of genre -- and his new album due out in April is praiseworthy.” - Michael Nesmith

“McMurtry might be the best topical writer performing right now and (Just Us Kids) finds him at his finest.”
—Patterson Hood, Drive-By Truckers

“You’d be hard-pressed to find amore hard-boiled depiction of hardscrabble ‘00s life on the edge of recession.” (4 stars) —BLENDER

“EW Pick...brilliant character sketches...steamy Texas roadhouse rumble. A–” —ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

“...reveals McMurtry’s sensitive brilliance as a chronicler of quiet desperation.” —PASTE

“Leave your steakhead pro-Bush brother-in-law at home and head out (to see McMurtry)” —BOSTON PHOENIX

“Tough but tender Texas raunch 'n' roll, thoughtfully rendered and determined to say what needs to be said. If Just Us Kids doesn't show up in full force on the Best of '08 lists come late December, shame on someone.” —PUREMUSIC

“emboldened by the reception to 2004’s acerbic (and increasingly relevant) ‘We Can’t Make it Here,’ McMurtry ramps up the polemics on Just Us Kids.” —USA TODAY

“music that's haunting but familiar, much like the struggles he depicts.” —WASHINGTON POST

“Texastentialist panorama of gray-sky lucidity and neon highway jungles...” —VILLAGE VOICE

“an important, angry addition to his impressive career.” —PERFORMING SONGWRITER

“McMurtry locates again and again an element of humanity that saves his angriest screeds from easy pigeonholing. Politics may be personal for some, but McMurtry is the rare breed of musician who at his best finds ways to blur the difference, effectively and affectingly.” (4 stars) —AUSTIN CHRONICLE

“James McMurtry writes songs filled with characters so real that you're sure they're going to climb out of the speakers and look you in the eyes.” —VOICE OF AMERICA

“McMurtry cuts through all the crap when describing the state of America these days. Call McMurtry’s music what you will, just don’t call it kids’ stuff.” —POP MATTERS

“McMurtry aims for the jugular.” —DIRTY LINEN

“noir-ish story spinner James McMurtry plows the dark, bluesier side of the country field.” —PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS

“The difference between James McMurtry and the airbrushed phonies on CMT is the difference between balls and bollocks.” —VALLEY ADVOCATE (Springfield/Northampton, MA)

“Maybe it's just in his genes, but McMurtry's word pictures consistently conjure the same sense of person, place, and heart found in a great novel or movie script. His new album, Just Us Kids, provides plenty of potent blue-neck political bile: No one will mistake his ‘God Bless America’ for Kate Smith's, and he's sure to piss off red-staters with the Bush-bashing ‘Cheney's Toy.’” —CLEVELAND SCENE

“As the years pile on, James McMurtry sings with ever more authority and deserved cynical grace...With each album, (he) finds more to say and a stubborn, uncompromising way to say it.” —iTUNES

“The veteran Texas songwriter’s new album, Just Us Kids, features the slow burner ‘Cheney’s Toy,’ one of the sharpest musical indictments yet of George Bush.” —ROLLING STONE

“brave, smart, and pithy music that captures James McMurtry at the top of his game.” —ALL MUSIC

“Brainy music with a ton of heart.” —DETROIT FREE PRESS

“more energized than ever.” —TEXAS MONTHLY

“Wry observations and mordant wit seem to be McMurtry literary traits, and by now singer-songwriter James has, in his own field, proven himself the peer of his distinguished novelist father, Larry, on those counts. . . it explores who we are and how we live in America today with all the punch of a documentary film exposé or bold tabloid headline.” —TEXAS MUSIC MAGAZINE

“I fell in love with the songs of James McMurtry about ten years ago. The reasons? First, because he is a precise and unsentimental observer of our national reality and, second, because he is a as good a storyteller as there is in American popular music.” —DAILY KOS

“The songwriting conscience of America,” —FOLK WAX

“James McMurtry's songs have long exposed injustice and oppression, more often than not using storytelling to make his point. With his new Just Us Kids, though, the Texas native tends to just come out and say what's on his mind, typically to bracing and prophetic effect.” —THE TENNESSEAN

“The new James McMurtry album Just Us Kids isn’t good, it’s terrific. Simply outstanding. My early candidate for album of the year, though it’ll make few best-of lists because not enough music critics seem to have a clue about his brilliance.” —ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION

“His songwriting is clear and precise, and he proves once again that he is not afraid to take on the powers that be.” —VINTAGE GUITAR

“Tough but tender Texas raunch 'n' roll, thoughtfully rendered and determined to say what needs to be said. If Just Us Kids doesn't show up in full force on the Best of '08 lists come late December, shame on someone.” —PUREMUSIC

“Thus far in 2008, no CD has been better.” —ATLANTA MUSIC GUIDE

“Another bold, in-your-face set from McMurtry” —ELMORE

“McMurtry’s songwriting is in a class by itself.” —METROMIX

“The 12 songs on Just Us Kids resonate long after the music has gone quiet.” —KNOXVILLE NEWS SENTINEL

“Just Us Kids is also one of those discs that proves why albums still matter — a collection in which songs inform each other, setting tones and moods. I’ve been listening to it for a month or so and keep getting drawn deeper into McMurtry’s musical stories. It’s that good.” —LINCOLN JOURNAL-STAR

“As usual, McMurtry is that keenest of literary songsmiths.” —LEXINGTON HERALD-LEADER

“Though he often relies as much on irony and whimsy as anger and recrimination, James McMurtry’s delivered 12 strong and valuable compositions on Just Us Kids.” —NASHVILLE CITY PAPER

“... one satisfying and relevant piece of work.” —PASADENA WEEKLY

“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.” —ABOUT.COM - COUNTRY

“McMurtry continues to tell the stories of a part of America that needs to be told.” —INK 19

“a Steinbeck-ian collection with songs about the great corporate takeover, religious fervor, struggling families and you-know-who.” —MINNEAPOLIS STAR-TRIBUNE

“His story songs, filled with solitary souls stuck in tight spaces, are equally as sharp, making Just Us Kids as entertaining as it is important.” —WINSTON-SALEM JOURNAL

“He may have called it Just Us Kids, but for this reviewer, all I see when listening to this powerful dynamic record is the Edvard Munch painting ‘The Scream’ so go buy this magnificent record, embrace The Scream.” —BLOGCRITICS

“a new batch of songs, the to-the-bone, plain-spoken, topical, sometimes political songs that have opened ears of fans ranging from novelist Stephen King to people who populate the live-music joints of the world.” —SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

“This album captures a spirit of the times.” —SWAMPLAND.COM

“ the songwriter walks the line between realism and cynicism, if there’s actually a line there. Just Us Kids continues his streak of well-done, socially conscious records.” —FORT WORTH WEEKLY

“McMurtry is at the top of his game here, and that is an amazing accomplishment.” —PIONEER PRESS (50 Chicago metro newspapers)

“Although the controversial nature of his latest work might polarize fans, James McMurtry has done a fine job of doing what he does best--using his well-honed songwriting talent to spark critical thinking among listeners worldwide.” —LIVE DAILY

“One of the best protest singers working today.” —TIME OUT CHICAGO

“The new Just Us Kids presents an even more unsettling vision of the state of the nation. While most of McMurtry’s riveting character studies aren’t explicitly topical, they take place in a landscape blighted by the petty whims of the thieves, fools and madmen in charge, with interpersonal connection offering the only hope for dignity or redemption.” —TIME OUT NEW YORK

“With his latest effort Just Us Kids, McMurtry once again refuses to pull his punches, offering a searing rebuke of the Bush administration through heartbreaking Americana sonnets that painstakingly detail the intimate tragedies in war’s aftermath.” —SEVEN DAYS (Burlington, VT)

“Like his father Larry, James describes the essence of people living life in the world rather than on top of it.” —SHARKBITTEN.COM

“Depicting their hard lives is a form of protest music for McMurtry, which leaves the songs flinty, ornamentless and devastatingly to the point.” —OFFBEAT

“The most vital lyricist in America today.” —Bob Harris, BBC 2 RADIO

“an unlikely success story.” —NEWS 8 AUSTIN

“In a world dominated by musical pap pushed by metrosexualized dandies in plush Nashville offices, a guy like James McMurtry can really rain on a pop-country parade. That's because this ornery Texan and son of novelist Larry McMurtry doesn't gloss over life's struggles and dirty laundry. He's the anti-Kenny Chesney. That and he has an incredibly canny way of absorbing all sorts of ideas and observations and is able to regurgitate it all in the form of some ballsy music with lyrics that may shock or simply make one reflect.” —NORMAN (OK) TRANSCRIPT

“James writes like he's lived a lifetime.” —John Mellencamp