After all the claustrophobic sadness McMurtry pulls the camera back to detail local corruption in "The Governor," a tale of a murderous cigarette boat and the death of two fisherman, where money buys justice. The camera pulls completely back for the pointed history lesson that is "The Ruins of the Realm" as we get reminded how all tyrannical empires eventually crumble and fall, the chiming descending guitar chords and rolling banjo belie the poisonous parallels that are drawn with the current administration ("a fool and a madman at the helm" ) to the Roman Empire, the days of the Raj, the Confederate South, the fall of Saigon, the Third Reich. Their religious hypocrisy highlighted by "We got the ten commandments on the state house steps, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not kill, dancing in the ruins of our own free will" is a telling indictment.

The final song, "You'd Have Thought" is a lilting reflective coda closes the album, an album that opens up the America that the constantly touring McMurtry sees as: riven by poverty, ignorance, intolerance, fear and greed. He populates his songs with characters that give a revealing insight into contemporary America. 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.