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 “perhaps the finest American folk-roots artist that most Americans never heard of,” while Rolling Stone’s John Swenson dubbed him “the greatest living folk-country songwriter.” 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 “Blue Wing” and “Black Pearl” each reached the Top 40 on the Canadian country charts, while Suzy Bogguss took “Outbound Plane,” 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 “Gallo del Cielo” and “Navajo Rug” have become fan favorites, while “Tonight We Ride” was selected by the Western Writers of America as one of the Top 100 Western Songs of all time. Tom’s songs have been recorded by Jerry Jeff Walker, Guy Clark, Dave Alvin, Doug Sahm, Joe Ely, Nanci Griffith, Iris Dement, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Ian Tyson, k.d. lang,  and others. Mojo magazine called his conceptual LP The Rose of Roscrae “the 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.