Search - Tom Russell :: Song of the West: The Cowboy Collection

7 stars champaigne and cigars

www.MoisBenarroch.com | Israel | 08/28/1998

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The story goes that the boss (B. Springsteen) once recorded one of Russell's songs that never made it to any of his records. "close but no cigars" is what Russell said about it in an interview.Russell has been for a long time one of the most admired songwriters in America and nobody knows why he isn't a superstar today, why he is not selling at least like The Band, or like Springsteen himself.Here we find Russell with a new label, Hightone, and like many people recording for small labels he is rerecording some of his best known songs. more than half of this cd are songs he has recorded in the past, and many more than once. The number of versions of Gallo Del Cielo on Lp's and Cd's by Russell himself must be very close to 10 (!).That's the question I aksed when I heard about this cd: Do we need another version of Gallo Del cielo, Claude Dallas, Alkali, etc...I dont know if we need it or not ( do we need another cd? another bar? another pair of pants?) but I sure can hear that these songs work well together making this the best cd by Tom Russell, in a long discography that has many highs. The songs are played all acoustic, his voice is at his best, and although we don't have the exitement of the first versions we find instead the calm voice of wisdom.For those who are a bit afraid of the west or the cowboy word attached to this cd, dont worry, this is just one of the greatest singer-songwriters's cd's of the year, as well as one of the best american roots music around. buy and enjoy."

Revival of a time where campfire music was life at its best

www.MoisBenarroch.com | 06/16/1998

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a follow up album to Cowboy Real, where Tom uses his lyrical talent to tell stories of life in the west. A wonderful mixture of county and folk, by the end of the album you will wish you knew the rich characters of each track. Most of the songs are original, but some are an amazing adaptation of classic cowboy poetry set to music. Not only are the words amazing, but the guitar riffs are classic Tom Russell - clean, rich, and unique."