Imagine if over the last century all of the great American
literature went undiscovered, floundering in obscurity. Imagine how America
would be today without the insights of Steinbeck, O'Conner, Faulkner, or
Hemingway to portray and describe its character and its realities? It may well
be argued that this is exactly what has happened with the American
singer-songwriter. With perhaps one exception (and his initials are BD) some of
the greatest creative minds have gone unrecognized by all but the most faithful
fans. Hopefully, in the future, some generation will discover the canon of John
Stewart, Townes Van Zandt, Janis Ian, Guy Clark, John Prine, Iris Dement, and,
most certainly, Tom Russell.
Russell's
music, his art, and his life are rooted deep in the heart of the real American
experience that emerge from his songs and stories. Be it his fondness for
tragic American biographies (Mickey Mantle), epic stories ("Gallo del Cielo"),
or satiric political statements ("Who's Gonna Build the Wall"), Russell's
insights and love for the American landscape and history shine through. The
songs themselves are little pieces of a full dimension of life. In his career,
Russell has never succumbed to the self-reflective, self-absorbed temptations
and traps that taunt many singer-songwriters of his generation. His songs are
always outside of himself. He is the author and the visionary; his medium is
the place where the songs become our camera lens into another life. The tales
are so colorfully vivid and close to the earth; if they're not true, the
listener sometimes wishes they were. These are stories of the American West, of
a man's memories of his lover and their Navajo rug, of desperate immigrants
from south of the border, risking a fortune through the rooster fights of
California, of the undersides of a city as seen through the poetic visions of
Charles Bukowski, of the displaced and disenfranchised Japanese-Americans
during World War II, relocated to a camp called Manzanar, and of the virtues of
Canadian Whiskey.
Both in
concert and in the studio, Russell has brought these images and visions alive -
like walking through an exhibit of Andrew Wyeth or Ansel Adams. Russell's work
has become not only about songs. He also has a great interest in American
literature (on his website he lists Graham Greene as his current favorite author),
he paints in his own unique southwestern style with a Woody Guthrie earthiness,
he has written a detective novel and even published a book of letters with
Charles Bukowski. In addition, his vision has broadened into film. He has
released a documentary on folk music and is in the process of completing a film
called, California Bloodlines, of the same name as the classic John Stewart
song, a songwriter from whom Russell has become an heir apparent.
Not only
has Russell drawn from his influences, but he has also deepened the
songwriter's vision and storytelling as a medium. In 1999, he recorded a
landmark CD some have called a "folk opera." Titled The Man From Who Knows
Where, it is certainly an episodic story brought together in song about the
generations of his family, spanning back to his great grandfather in Norway. He
recorded the CD in Norway near his ancestor's birth place. The follow-up to
this cd is Hotwalker, based on his long correspondence with L.A. Beat poet,
Charles Bukowski.
If having a
distinctive, visionary songwriting career is not enough, Russell has had some
fun putting together a U.S. to Canada music train tour complete with concerts
and workshops. Russell also completed a 2005 documentary on this project of
love called, Hearts on the Line.
The year
2007 found Russell weighing in on the immigration question. A native of Los
Angeles, he now lives on what he calls a three-acre "badland" farm near the
border of El Paso and Juarez. Over the last few years the government has
discussed building a fence to help keep illegal immigration at a minimum. In
response to this, Russell wrote a song called "Who's Gonna Build Your Wall?"
The songs asks if all the illegals go home, who will build the wall to keep
them out? This song can be found on the 2007 release, The Wounded Heart of
America. Along with Wall, the CD is a unique compilation of artists Russell has
collaborated with over the years. It's moving, if a bit jarring to hear the CD
open with Johnny Cash singing "Veteran's Day" and then move along to Dave Van
Ronk on "The Outcast," Doug Sahm on "Saint Olav's Gate," Lawrence Ferlinghetti
on "Stealing Electricity," and you have what may be the finest collection of
musical ghost artists to appear on one American roots music CD.
So, in the
long run, perhaps the stories that must be told about a passing and soon
forgotten America, are best left covered in independent works like those of Tom
Russell.
There may
come a time in the future when generations will wonder whether America in the
twentieth and twenty-first centuries were about more than homogenized pop
music, easy psychology, shallow new age religions, and corrupt politicians. As
is the case today, when we listen to an artist like Tom Russell, they will find
the true heartland of a wounded, but always hopeful America.
In 2008,
Hightone has released a career-spanning anthology CD called Veteran's Day that
helps to summarize his own visionary pilgrim's progress up to now. But at age
55, he still has a long way to go, with many more songs to write and more
stories to tell.
Tom Russell will be appearing on November 28 at the Acoustic
Music San Diego Series at 7:30pm. The address is 4650 Mansfield St., San Diego
92116. Phone: (619) 303-8176. Or visit www.acousticmusicsandiego.com for ticket information.