Search - Tom Russell :: Cowboy Real

The line between 'Country' and 'Western'

Jack Purcell | Placitas, NM USA | 09/26/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Careers have been made by singers who occasionally (though rarely) discovered the boundary between country and western music and took a solid step across the line. Marty Robbins comes to mind, along with Michael Martin somebody-or-other. Tom Russell falls firmly on the 'western' side of the divide. Llano Estacado, Sonora Death Row, Rayburn Crane, Zane Grey and Roanie are all traditionally melancholy, pleasant sounds and lyrics of the old-time western sort, but good. Much better than you'll find in the more famous/plastic town of Western USA. Navajo Rug is in a class all it's own, upbeat and even better than the others. Claude Dallas is a ballad about a man who merely wanted to be left alone and crashed against the wall of regulation and modern law-enforcement ending in the deaths of two game wardens. He was a folk hero for a while (I used to have a gimme cap with "Claude Dallas - American Hero" on it). The combined lyrics, music and style of Tom Russell make this one you'll listen to again and again, even if you disagree with the politics. My personal favorite on this disk is "Gallo del Cielo". Rooster made in heaven. A song about a man and his dreams and a fighting rooster he steals to try to fulfill them for him. If you like western music, or just want something different and original, Tom Russell is your man and Cowboy Real is your best buy of the 21st Century."

Some great songs on this one.

Jack Purcell | 09/21/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This CD, while covering many of Tom's "standards", also provides some great cowboy songs I haven't seen on some of his others CDs. Several of them are really touching, songs about cowboys and old cattle hands and the hard, lonesome lives they lead. The Basque, Roanie, and the musical version of the cowboy poem A Bad Half Hour, to name a few. I also like Tom's version of the Joe Ely song, Indian Cowboy. Took me a while to play this CD after we got it, but it has become one of my favorites."