Tom Russell

All Music Guide:

Americana singer/songwriter Tom Russell was born in Los Angeles in 1950. Raised on the cowboy music of the American West, he grew up to be a talented songwriter, and began issuing albums under his own name in the early '70s. However, Russell's material was also recorded by such luminaries as Johnny Cash, Guy Clark, Dave Alvin, Doug Sahm, and k.d. lang, to name only a few. While much of Russell's work mined the country tradition, he was also known to flavor his work with Tex-Mex, folk, and the cowboy music of his youth. After an acclaimed career spanning two decades, Russell found another gear with 1999's Man from God Knows Where. A concept album eight years in the making, the LP presented a song cycle inspired not only by America's pioneers, but by Russell's own immigrant ancestors. Borderland, a set inspired by Russell's newfound home in the Juarez border region of Texas, followed in 2001. Modern Art appeared in April 2003 and Hotwalker -- a conceptual work inspired by Russell's encounters with author Charles Bukowski -- followed in 2005. A year later, Russell released Love and Fear, an album focusing on what he called "the ragged outback of love." Wounded Heart of America, a compilation of Russell classics performed by everyone from Johnny Cash and Iris DeMent to Tom himself, arrived in 2007. In 2009, Russell re-emerged on Shout Factory with Blood and Candle Smoke, recorded at Tucson's Wave Audio with owner Craig Schumacher co-producing. Players include songwriter Gretchen Peters on backing and duet vocals, and members of Calexico, among others. Following the critical and commercial success of Blood and Candle Smoke, Russell toured relentlessly. Included in his road escapades was another train tour, with songwriters Dave Alvin, Steve Young, and Thad Beckman. Russell went to work on another album in 2010; he recorded in studios in Texas, Los Angeles, Tuscon, and Nashville with co-producer Barry Walsh. The end result, Mesabi, once more included appearances by Calexico, as well as Van Dyke Parks, Viktor Krauss, Will Kimbrough, and Gretchen Peters. The album was advanced by a pre-release download single; a striking cover of Bob Dylan's "A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall," featuring Lucinda Williams and Calexico. The album's final cut, "Road to Nowhere," was used as the title cut of the for director Monte Hellman's film of the same name. Mesabi was released on September 6, 2011

Wikipedia:

Thomas George "Tom" Russell (born March 5, 1947/1948) is an American singer-songwriter. Although most strongly identified with the Texas Country music tradition, his music also incorporates elements of folk, Tex-Mex, and the cowboy music of the American West. Many of his songs have been recorded by other artists, including Johnny Cash, The Texas Tornados, k.d. lang, Guy Clark, Joe Ely, The Sir Douglas Quintet, Jason Boland, Nanci Griffith, Katy Moffatt, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Sailcat, Iris Dement, Dave Alvin, and Suzy Bogguss.

In addition to his music, Russell also paints folk art, and has published a book of songwriting quotes (co-edited with Sylvia Tyson), a detective novel (in Scandinavia),and a book of letters with Charles Bukowski.

Early life and career [edit]

Russell was born in Los Angeles in the late 1940s. He graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara with a master's degree in Sociology of Law (criminology). In 1969, he spent a year teaching in Ibadan, Nigeria during the Biafran War. He has also lived in Spain, Norway, and played music at a circus in Puerto Rico. He began his musical career in earnest in the early 1970s in Vancouver playing strip bars, then later relocated to Texas and formed a band with singer-pianist Patricia Hardin. In 1977, they moved to San Francisco, performing regularly in clubs there as Hardin & Russell, during which time they recorded the second of their two studio albums. They eventually split in 1979, at which point Russell drifted out of the music industry for a while.

While working as a taxi driver in Queens, Russell met guitarist Andrew Hardin (no relation to Patricia). After hearing his songs, Hardin convinced him that they should form a new band. Shortly after this, Robert Hunter of the Grateful Dead was a passenger in Russell's cab. Russell sang him his song Gallo Del Cielo. An impressed Hunter invited Russell and Hardin first to join him on stage at New York's Bitter End, and then to become his regular opening act. Hardin remained Russell's full-time sideman until April, 2006.

Tom Russell Band [edit]

Between 1984 and 1994, the Tom Russell Band, (composed of Russell on acoustic guitar and vocals, Andrew Hardin (guitar, bass), David Mansfield (slide guitar), Fats Kaplin (pedal steel, fiddle, harmonica, accordion), Lee Thornburg, Tom Timko (horns), Skip Edwards (keyboards), Hank Bones, Dusty Wakeman, Billy Troiani (bass), Steve Holley, Charlie Caldarola, Mike Warner, and Jeff Donovan (drums), released four albums on Philo records. These albums blend elements of folk, country, and rock music, and often featured songs inspired by the American Southwest, blue-collar American life, and events from his own life (for instance the track Road to Bayamon, a regular concert favorite, draws on his experiences playing in Puerto Rico). His storytelling approach was also showcased in songs such as Haley's Comet, which has also been recorded by co-writer Dave Alvin and tells of the last, sad days of Bill Haley.

Russell worked on the New York country music circuit of the 1980s and 1990s, along with other local musicians such as Larry Campbell, Larry Eagle, Kenny Davis, Tommie Joe White, Dave Sonnenborn, Bruce Kirschner, Billy and Bruce Lang, John Widgren, Rich Upright, and many more. Largely due to several of the Manhattan nightclubs, such as City Limits, O'Lunneys, Cody's, The Rodeo Bar, The Lone Star Cafe and others, becoming meeting places for all of these artists, an intermingling of the bands took place. Russell was one of the "purer" of these bands, almost always featuring the same line-up.

The Man From God Knows Where [edit]

In the 1990s Russell made a number of solo albums, collaborated with blues singer Barrence Whitfield on two albums, and also recorded an acoustic album mixing new material with his favorite cowboy-themed songs. His albums include several guest appearances from other folk, country, and Americana artists, such as Chris Gaffney and Dave Alvin. His song "Outbound Plane", co-written with Nanci Griffith, became a Top Ten country hit for Suzy Bogguss. However, his most significant album of the 1990s was the 1999 folk opera, The Man From God Knows Where.

Drawing on the music of Norway and Ireland in addition to American folk and country, the album is a song cycle tracing the journeys of Russell's ancestors from Europe to America, and the struggles they encountered there. Recorded in Norway near the spot where his great-grandfather was born in 1847, the album features singers Iris DeMent, Dolores Keane, and Dave Van Ronk playing the roles of Russell's various ancestors and telling their stories. The title came from the epitaph of another Tom Russell, an Irish activist executed in 1803.

Recent work [edit]

Russell's albums in the 21st century have been heavily influenced by his current home city, El Paso. Albums such as Borderland feature a strong Tex-Mex influence and feature songs of life on both sides of the border.

In 2005 Russell released Hotwalker, the second part of his Americana trilogy (the first part being "The Man From God Knows Where"). It was another conceptual work largely inspired by his correspondence with author Charles Bukowski. Subtitled "A Ballad for Gone America", the album features songs and spoken word pieces, many of the latter delivered by another friend of Bukowski, circus midget Little Jack Horton. The sampled voices of Lenny Bruce and Edward Abbey are also heard on an album which takes the form of a musical collage lamenting the passing of the America of Russell's childhood and the Beat generation.

In addition to working on new music, Russell also exhibits his original artwork and organizes an annual trans-Canadian music train, which combines song-writing and -singing workshops with live concerts aboard a vintage long-distance streamline train. This train trek was depicted in Russell's 2005 concert/documentary, "Hearts on the Line", produced by Canyon Productions, which features a concert with Russell and Andrew Hardin videotaped at Capilano College in Vancouver as well as behind the scenes footage of the music train experience.

In 2006, Russell released Love and Fear, a collection of original songs that were inspired by the highs and lows of his relationships with women. This was followed in 2007 by "Wounded Heart of America", a tribute album of Tom Russell songs covered by other artists, including Joe Ely, Suzy Bogguss, Dave Alvin, Jerry Jeff Walker, and beat poet legend Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Two new songs, "Who's Gonna Build Your Wall" and "The Death of Jimmy Martin", are also included on the album.

In 2008, Russell's new record company, Shout Factory, released a 2 CD retrospective album "Veteran's Day: Anthology" and Russell and Canyon Productions, Inc. released a DVD featuring Russell and Ian Tyson discussing the art of songwriting called "Mano a Mano." Russell is also working on a documentary film project called California Bloodlines and is currently touring, painting and writing new songs.

In 2009, Shout! Factory released Russell's album "Blood and Candle Smoke" featuring twelve original songs. The album was recorded in Tucson, AZ at Wave Lab Studios with members of Calexico providing a world music beat to many of the songs. The album was produced by Tom Russell and Craig Schumacher, who has worked with Neko Case, Iron & Wine and Calexico. 2011 saw Russell release both a new album, "Mesabi" and a DVD, "Don't Look Down".