OCTOBER 2009: REVIEW by BRADLEY MASON HAMLIN for MYSTERY ISLAND MAGAZINE
Tom Russell is one of the most consistent and talented performers of anti-pop music out there. I say “anti-pop” because he’s not making this music for the radio with the corny -- long-rusted but in frequent use hooks -- or the dusty clichés that you can hear on any popular station, be it rock, country, or otherwise. In essence Tom Russell isn’t singing for you or me. He’s performing a self-autopsy and putting his blood and guts on the stage for the beast-crowd to do with as they will.
And therefore, you can’t help but relate to the insight and honesty. Better yet, he does it well; writes it well, plays it well, and sings it well. It’s one thing to have some guts and the willingness to put your heart on the chopping block, but it’s got to be worth looking at.
Tom’s opening song “East of Woodstock, West of Viet Nam” is a key example of the Tom Russell school of making an Americana song relevant without all the pretension.
He performed it live on the Late Show, Friday night. Here it is. Check it out for yourself:
One thing I really love about Tom’s music is that he’s a native Californian, currently living in Texas, and he never fails to give the listener a unique blend of both flavors.
Like Eric Burdon, he’s a bit of a music historian as well. In Tom’s lyrics you’ll find other musicians, his stories about their personal affect on him—in addition to writers and other artists and the times and places those people inhabit. This is the true literary/intellectual tradition at work, yet again, without all the unnecessary pretension or preaching.
His song “Nina Simone” is a real standout for me, as we’re big Simone fans on Mystery Island, and Tom does invoke her spirit truly.
Well, it’s Sunday morning and we’re on our second journey through Blood and Candle Smoke … “Don’t Look Down” playing right now:
“From the plains of the buffalo to the wild dogs of Mexico …”
And Lucy Hell says, “I really like this. It fits with the restless feeling of a Sunday morning.”
There is a stillness of mystery and beauty, listening to “Guadalupe” with the great Gretchen Peters, bringing to light the title of the album.
The children are doing their homework while the parents try to figure it out, as long as the coffee’s hot, and even if God may have abandoned us on this planet, well hell, at least we have good music.
Thanks again, Tom.
--BMH, (Sunday morning on Mystery Island)
Mystery Island recommends Blood and Candle Smoke if you like: Bob Dylan, Charles Bukowski, Dave Alvin, Dave Van Ronk, Doug Sahm, Eric Burdon, Ernest Hemingway, Graham Greene, Gretchen Peters, Guy Clark, Hank Williams, Ian Tyson, Jack Kerouac, Jerry Jeff Walker, Joe Ely, John Prine, Johnny Cash, KD Lang, Iris Dement, Lenny Bruce, Leonard Cohen, Little Jack Horton, Merle Haggard, Nanci Griffith, Nina Simone, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Sylvia Tyson …
