Tom Russell - An Ancient Trade, and an Important One

Tom Russell takes songwriting very seriously. He’s been at the craft for better than 20 years, and has 25 albums/CD’s to show for it. His most recent effort, Wounded Heart of America, released late last year, features a bevy of covers of his songs by an impressive array of performers. Contributors include the late Johnny Cash, Doug Sahm, and Dave Van Ronk, as well as Joe Ely, Ian Tyson, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Nancy Griffith and Iris DeMent, among others. Pretty hefty friends.

Russell finds the collection has provided him with some great listening.

“Johnny Cash did a real interesting version of "Veteran's Day." It sounded like it came off his first record, The Hot and Blue Guitars of Johnny Cash, on Sun. An honor of course. A deep honor.”

“My favorite cover might be Laurie Lewis doing "Manzanar," because she nailed it with passion.” Manzanar is the interment camp that housed Japanese-Americans, who were rounded up early in World War II.

Passion is something that Russell believes is a very important ingredient in good songwriting. Passion, and something a little harder to define.

“Songs are pure magic... the good ones. They take us out of real time into a place where nothing moves or ages. Painting can do the same thing. There are not that many creative writers that can achieve that. Nor poets. It has to do with "duende" and ancient tricks of the muse.”

To judge by his output, Russell is a master of those ancient tricks. His deep commitment to his craft leaves him with a fairly high set of standards. While confessing he doesn’t have the opportunity to follow much of the newer music, he also isn’t impressed with what he hears happening ‘out there’.

“I don’t hear much these days. I'm usually affronted by people's lies in song. I listen to Lucinda Williams, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Van Morrison and old Fred Neil records. I’m an old crank.”

Crank or not, Russell, who is also a published author, tends to write songs that have as their geographic locus the West. He is also a terrific storyteller. Why the Western setting?

“The West is where I come from. There's a different language out here. Something to do with the desert and the sky and the nearness to Mexico. I'm never that comfortable in the East - except for New York. I lived there for fifteen years. Bobby Neuwirth and I wrote a song about New York City called "The Biggest Bordertown in the World." Sort of a Western way of looking at the East.”

While he was pursuing a career in music, he also managed to acquire a degree in Criminal Justice. Like so many of his experiences, nothing was wasted.

“I had intended to teach or do something with a street level agency, but I hated academics and University people, so I went back to the guitar. The crime stuff now seeps into the songs... the guitar is a better weapon than a University degree. Trust me.”

Tom Russell has cut his own path in the music business. Although his songs turn up often on CD’s by other artists, he hasn’t aggressively shopped them.

“The songs seem to find their own way cause I've never really "pimped" them in Nashville or places like that.”

He also believes it is important to have a presence on the Internet.

“Downloading became necessary because most young writers can't write enough great songs to fill an album. So one song makes sense. The Internet is an interesting forum - it's bottomless if you don't abuse it. To me, it's just another carnival stage. It's another way of throwing some wine toward the thirsty.”

Something of a renaissance man, Russell has published both fiction and non-fiction, as well as writing and performing music. Recently, he has taken up painting; his current recent release features original artwork. Russell uses southwestern motifs and colors to create striking images. Still, when asked which medium he prefers, there is no hesitation.

“Song and performance. I'm working on painting.”

Russell has no intention of slowing down.

“Hemingway says you can't retire if you're a writer. It's like backing up into the grave. I'll never get sick of the minstrel trade and I don't think Dylan or Merle Haggard will either. It's only the worthless that give up. And the whiners...and a lot of people are whining these days on the fair grounds of music. I'm very happy to be able to travel and sing. It's an ancient trade and an important one.”

TOM RUSSELL IN CONCERT

If you happen to be in Eastern Massachusetts on August 21, you can catch Russell at a wonderful venue, the Firehouse Performing Arts Center in Newburyport, MA. You can contact them here

CD Review: Tom Russell, Wounded Heart of America

Wounded Heart of America
Tom Russell
Hightone Records
2007
www.tomrussell.com

A good song touches the heart of a listener, makes them think. Sometimes it makes them cry. A great song touches the heart of the person performing it; it draws something heroic out of them, something that is visceral, and real. Tom Russell writes great songs. Truly, great songs.

Wounded Heart of America, a collection of artists covering the songs of Russell, is far more than homage. It is a series of performances by singers and songwriters that weave together a larger story of America. It is Russell’s America, seen through the eyes of illegals and Mexican-Americans, Japanese-American citizens relocated during the Second World War; through the words of Alaskan natives and heartbroken drunks, wide-eyed young lovers, Texas State Troopers, and half-cocked Outcasts. It is truly the wounded heart of America, the people who belly up to the bar in search of something they can’t name, of the midnight floor cleaners prowling silent shopping malls, of cops and outlaws, bar-room preachers and justice denied.

The list of performers loaning their talent to the collection is impressive; even more so when you realize that they are some of the best songwriters and interpreters of the last couple of generations. Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Johnny Cash, Dave Van Ronk and Beat legend Lawrence Ferlinghetti occupy one stellar end of the spectrum, Dave Alvin, Joe Ely and Ian Tyson another, Doug Sahm, Nancy Griffith, Iris DeMent, and Laurie Lewis yet another; and there is still room on the disc for contributions by the likes of Jerry Jeff Walker and Suzy Boggus. As performers, it is as talented a group as you will gather anywhere. More than that, and key, is the stunning reality that it is also a collection of some of the best songwriters in America.

The coherence of the album is remarkable, given the stable of talent, and the fact that it does represent a full and lengthy songwriting career. Russell has produced more than a catalog; the album reflects a quality that places Russell in pretty rarefied company—Springsteen, Guthrie come to mind. Each has produced a body of work that is a tapestry, gathering the strands of a much larger story; each strand able to stand alone, yet completely of a piece with the next. It is a considerable accomplishment. And, it is self-evident in this CD.

Whether it is Dave Alvin’s aching baritone telling the story of fringe-dwelling wanderer, or Dave Van Ronk’s off-kilter and obtuse tale extolling the simple unpleasant existence of the “other” in America- the Black Sheep, philandering, too-loud relative whose primary activity is to embarrass the family, the lyrics are balanced by performances that are melded with the style of the particular artist. More than that, Russell’s intrinsic solidity as a songwriter provides a foundation that allows the performer to transcend their own style; to fuse with a larger story. That is a quality unique to truly great songs; Russell offers a dozen and a half of them here.

Russell is a one of the most literate, thoughtful, and astute songwriters on the scene today. He can turn a mean and artful phrase; to do it in the context of a genuine, heartfelt story of human longing, and passion, and experience, well, that is the essence of art. And Russell is an artist, from the rich and passionate original artwork that adorns the CD to the deeply expressive lyrics and eclectic American melodic stylings of the song.

This CD is flat-out brilliant.

CD Review: Ariel Storm

CD REVIEW:

Ariel Storm
Kai Ariel and Ariana Storm
Carefree and Bohemian Records
www.arielstorm.com

Someone out there has described the work of Northern California duo Kai Ariel and Ariana Storm as "Ambient Dreampop." Ambient? Certainly-- the CD is textured beautifully, with the extraordinarily rich voice of vocalist Ariana Storm at times embedded in lush arrangements, often of her own voice multi-tracked and punctuated by her own piano playing. Dreamy-- I can buy that. There is something more here than pop music, however.

The lyrics penned by the duo wedge themselves too deeply into your heart to be dismissed as pop.

Don't get me wrong, there is a lot of pop music I like. But this isn't anything like pop.

The songs have a strongly ambient feel to them; the melody is carried by Storm's vocals, accented by almost surgical percussion, guitars, and bass by the multi-instrumentalist Ariel. It is Storm's voice that is the lead instrument. But it is her lyrics that are deeply personal and self-revealing, and challenge the listener, such as in the tune 'Rich Man'.

Who do you run from
I’m not so serene
I want to be somewhere
I’m not demeaned
I want to be something
Other than mad
Could I be here
With a little more heaven

Storm is a woman prepared to ask us and herself difficult questions, to challenge assumptions, to advocate for herself. She is also a person who recognizes that value is not what sits in your bank account; value is found in human relationships, and that some qualify as transcendent. In her song 'Lucky', Storm expresses a vulnerability that is under-girded by her willingness to risk sharing herself, unconditionally; more than that, she is aware of it.

"So rare to find someone
Who’ll talk it out when you trespass
Or they do
I’m afraid sometimes
To let it in let it in
How good it can be
I’m so lucky
Lucky
To know you"

In the world of Ariel Storm, and lyricist Ariana Storm, (an award-winning songwriter), you will not be lulled to sleep by an ambient confection; Storm is too forceful and passionate a songwriter to take the easy way out. Jump into the CD, and you are entering into a dialogue with two skilled musicians, who will assert themselves, challenge you; at times discomfort you. But there is nothing superficial about Ariel Storm; despite the sheer beauty of Storm's vocals, and the masterful multi-tracking of them that recurs throughout the CD, the songs possess their own depth. Each is confessional; sometimes those confessions emanate from the writer, but more often, they are the whisperings in the heart of the listener.

And yet, for all of the introspective and emotional content on the CD, it ends with an oddly festive, simple tune, 'They Are Not As Many,' with lyrics fitting this moment, 27 years tonitght removed from the death of John Lennon.

"Come on come on
Come on now
Let it be
Love
Away away
Away now

Those who refuse
Love
Open heart
Make it better
One world
Together in Love"

One world. Together. In Love.

Lennon would have liked that.

This Compact Disc is well worth listening to. It is strong, very strong lyrically, with the ability to draw you in and make you think deep and hard. There is nothing about the transparency of Storm's lyrics that will let the listener off easy-- it's your life she is singing about, as well as her own. The musicianship is first rate, and the arrangements serve the lyrics, which in turn are delivered by a strong vocals

'Tis the Season, Razor and Tie Version

The Antidote.

Face it. The season of Merry and Jolly is upon us. I can’t decide which is worse, crawling the mall to get that certain little something for the progeny, or the non-stop holiday syrup dripping into my ears from every speaker that is hooked up to a radio, muzak system, and broadcast system 24/7.

Elvis warbling 'Blue Christmas,' not exactly the way I’d like to remember him.

Johnny Mathis, singing ‘White Christmas’, to continue with the color theme. The Barking Dogs. Can there be no surcease, oh Christmas, or is this the vision of what will be?

Thanks to the good folks at Razor and Tie, there are alternatives. I mean alternatives.

They’ve released three really fun Compact Discs just in time to cure your Christmas blues, or whites, or help you roast those chestnuts. Or drive those stodgy relatives back into the kitchen and away from the stereo system.

MONSTER BALLADS
Various Bands

I’ve never been much of a metal-head, but I do love a well-twanged guitar. There is something irrepressible about the energy of this CD. It features some very traditional pop holiday ballads, shredded gleefully and energetically by the likes of Skid Row, Winger, Nelson, Faster Pussycat, Twisted Sister and Lita Ford, Queensryche.

They say that the measure of a good song, or melody, is that it transfers across a continuum of musical styles. Irving Berlin may be rolling in his grave at the Queensryche version of ‘White Christmas’, but I think it is a rip. (That’s the same Irving Berlin who asked Kenny Rankin, who had just serenaded him with an a capella, skat version of ‘Always’, “Who told you you could sing?”) It has all the angst missing from the more traditional versions; you can just imagine the lead singer sitting on the beach in Miami, writing Christmas cards to friends and family.

Winger does an outstanding job on the Lennon/Ono ode to civic responsibility, ‘Happy Christmas/War is Over’; ringing acoustic guitars, meshed with massive electric chords remind us that this song, perhaps above all others, will stand as the single most poignant and bittersweet call for change in the latter part of the 20th century.

A straight shot of Chuck Berry rockin’, rollin’ is delivered by L.A. Guns, as they rip through ‘Run, Run Rudolph’. It absolutely seethes; if I was Rudolph I’d’ve cleared town the second that machine gun splatter of electric guitars tore through the air.

There isn’t a track on this CD that won’t bring a smile to your face. I know, riffing on Christmas Ballads is a pretty easy target; but doing it and having fun, doing it and somehow, through the wall of sound, retaining that holiday feel; now that is the trick. Listening to the first 30 seconds of ‘Blue Christmas’, contributed by Tom Kieffer of Cinderella, seals the deal. The last minute-and-a-half of alternating wailing guitar, soaring saxophone, and tremulous organ playing will leave you heavily dosed with the holiday spirit.

Even if you bring it out once a year, this one belongs in your holiday collection. Put it right next to Johnny Mathis CD on the rack, between Burl Ives and Helen Reddy; I’ll bet the damn CD pops right out and forces it’s way back into the CD player.

Don’t be surprised if you come home sometime in July, and Stryper’s ‘Winter Wonderland’ is erupting out of your stereo system. This one has legs and attitude.

IT’S YO CHRISTMAS
The Yo Yo Kids

This CD is about as close as you will get to blending rap styling with middle class holiday materialism. Produced, recorded and mixed by Frederick Sargolini, the material is a mix of traditional tunes with rewritten lyrics that push a more suburban view of the holiday season. You won’t find much ghetto rage, the language is exceptionally mild, the cheer is good, and the overall package is clean without being slick, safe for kids and even pokes a little bit of self deprecating fun at itself.

And the new version of ‘Deck the Halls’ offered on the CD may be the only song ever rewritten (or written for that matter) that manages to mention Rudolph and Jesus in successive lines. That, folks, is nothing to sneeze at.

Alright, I’ll admit it. I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected. And hey, I've spent the many the month of December listening to music with far less redeeming value. The kids will enjoy it; mine certainly have. And not to boast, they have developed something of a discriminating palate.

ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS
Alvin, Theodore and Simon, and Friends

Yup. I should be a little abashed here, but I am not. This CD, released prior to the movie (coming to an old stone wall near you by mid-December) is a pleasant, no, a delightful surprise. Everything old is new again, they say, but a lot of things lose their luster coming down the years. Not the Chipmunks, who were a staple of my childhood. They were the rodents of my pre-teen years. I was, and have secretly remained, Munk'd.

I knew that David Seville had some kind of relationship with Alvin and his posse. Manager, producer, musical director, keeper, I never knew what the nature of his relationship was. But as a kid who was yelled at a lot, Alvin and I were twin souls, forever bedeviling the David Seville’s of the world. Me and Alvin.

Later, I learned that the stern Mr. Seville was actually a gentle soul named Ross Bagdasarian, and that all three of the chipmunk voices were in fact his. At the time (the late 50’s) he was probably pushing technology to the limits- three tracks of voices, then his voice, then a track for music. Whew.

This CD is, in many ways, a good-natured homage to Bagdasarian. But it is more than that. It is a sly poke at the mutability of musical styles, at the ability of the average human, when forced to smile by forces beyond their control, to adapt to the most absurd and wonderful of noises.

I don’t know what the movie is about, I’m not sure that I want to know. But the soundtrack is a blast. Sure, the originals are there- ‘Witch Doctor’, and ‘Christmas Don’t Be Late.’ As sentimental as I am, I’m glad to have them back in my collection.

But the CD starts with the very familiar opening refrain, strumming guitar and piano, of Daniel Powter’s ‘Bad Day’. And then, Alvin, clear as a bell ringing in an upper octave, starts to sing the lead, joined shortly by his erstwhile street corner buddies Simon and Theodore. You are startled, but by the about two minutes into the song, it sounds perfectly normal. Chipmunks singing a pop anthem sounds normal.

If that ain’t magic, what is?

Add a couple of remixed versions of the two classics, trading vocals with and backing up Canadian singer/composer Jason Gleed, and you are well on your way to a terrifically enjoyable send up of the music scene. ‘Witch Doctor’, with Chris Classic, done as a partial rap, while Rebecca Jones joins the rodents on another of those lush pop heart-songs that dominate the Disney-channel radio stations.

They even leap aboard ‘Funky Town;’ and I swear to goodness it is better than the original.

I had to pry the CD out of the hands of my progeny to get it back from them so that I could review it.

Leave your preconceptions outta this decision. And since there are only a couple of Christmas songs on the CD, it qualifies for a year-round listen.

Technically, the album is utterly seamless, managing to blend the harmonious trill of the Chipmunks with the sinuous voice of Ms. Jones, in an utterly believable fashion.

Three months ago, if anyone told me that I’d be writing a review raving about the newest Alvin and the Chipmunks CD, I’d have laughed. I’ve just done that, and you know what? I’m still laughing. I haven’t had so much fun sharing music with my kids since we went to see Jake Shimabukuro play uke.

You can connect with Razor and Tie at razorandtie.com. They have a pretty eclectic roster of artists, and I can tell you that have a great sense of humor, too. Must be a really fun place to work.

Pat Metheny... "Some Day, I Could Be Good At This"

Lyle Mays, left, and Pat Metheny in detail of picture on back of"As Falls Wichita, so Falls Wichita Falls" CD

photograph by Rob van Petten, ECM Records GmbH, 1981

Back around 1980 or so, there was a tiny little club in Buffalo, NY, called the Tralfamadore Cafe, in homage the writer Kurt Vonnegut. Although the club has since relocated to spacious quarters in the downtown area of the City, the old club had a marvelous charm. You'd enter down a long, creaking staircase into what was essentially an open basement. I'll bet the place couldn't legally hold more than 90 people.

It was a precious and intimate space to see music, and they booked the best around. Spyrogyra was virtually the house band. In that tiny club, I saw Dexter Gordon, Richie Havens, Nina Simone, Carmen McRae, Gap Mangione, Gerry Niewood, and Pat Metheny. To make the gig work, the artists would do 2-4 nights of shows; they all loved the setting, and it enabled them to settle in and catch their breath for a little while when they were on tour.

I did an interview with Pat Metheny at the time that I should dig up and reprint here sometime.

He said something at the time that completely blew me away, and gave me tremendous insight into the mind of an artist. Metheny had just been selected World's Best Guitarist by Guitar player magazine for the third consecutive year, or something like that. He was 27 years old at the time, we were about the same age.

I asked him how it felt to receive all of this adulation at such a young age, did it affect his career-decisions, or his approach to gigging. All four nights at the Tralf were sellouts.

"That's an interesting question, and I'll tell you why," he said.
"I don't get much of a chance to practice anymore. We do about 300 gigs a year, and the average gig is three hours, not that I'm making any excuses for not practicing."

"And just the other night, the band and I hit a groove, and I realized that if I work really, really hard at this, I could get good at it, get to where I want to be."

Midwesterners, unless they are politicians, have a very hard time lying. What he was saying was that in his mind, the absolute truth. Here is a guy his peers consider to be at the peak of the scene, and in his own mind, he's just beginning to formulate a vision of what it might be possible for him to do, and how hard it will be to do it, and how important it is to do it. He was beyond humility, posturing. He'd tuned out all the laudatory static, and was fine-tuning his connection to his own muse.

Metheny's career speaks for itself. It is hard to come up with another artist as respectful of his musical elders, as inventive and fearless, and as damned good as Metheny.

And I'd bet that if I spoke with him today, he'd still say he has a long way to go.