Ep. 49 - TOM RUSSELL ("Gallo del Cielo")
Tom Russell is a painter, essayist, and critically lauded singer-songwriter in the Western folk tradition, All Music Guide called him \u201cperhaps the finest American folk-roots artist that most Americans never heard of,\u201d while Rolling Stone\u2019s John Swenson dubbed him \u201cthe greatest living folk-country songwriter.\u201d Russell was discovered by Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter in New York in the early 1980s and launched his solo artist career soon after. His songs \u201cBlue Wing\u201d and \u201cBlack Pearl\u201d each reached the Top 40 on the Canadian country charts, while Suzy Bogguss took \u201cOutbound Plane,\u201d which Tom co-wrote with Nanci Griffith, to the Top 10 in the US. The hyper-literate and historically-minded troubadour poet has found loyal devotees including cultural icons ranging from Johnny Cash, who recorded his songs, to David Letterman, who invited Russell on his late night show on at least five different occasions. Songs such as \u201cGallo del Cielo\u201d and \u201cNavajo Rug\u201d have become fan favorites, while \u201cTonight We Ride\u201d was selected by the Western Writers of America as one of the Top 100 Western Songs of all time. Tom\u2019s songs have been recorded by Jerry Jeff Walker, Guy Clark, Dave Alvin, Doug Sahm, Joe Ely, Nanci Griffith, Iris Dement, Ramblin\u2019 Jack Elliott, Ian Tyson, k.d. lang,\xa0 and others. Mojo magazine called his conceptual LP The Rose of Roscrae \u201cthe top Folk album of 2015. That same year, Russell won the ASCAP Deems Taylor Award for excellence in music journalism. His most recent work is Ceremonies of the Horsemen, a collection of essays he has written for Ranch & Reata, the Journal of the American West.