Review: Tom Russell and Andrew Hardin in Juneau

Subject: Tom Russell and Andrew Hardin- Great
From: Ebbie
Date: 17 Nov 05 - 07:42 PM

It is belated but I have 'discovered' Tom Russell and Andy Hardin. They did a performance here in Juneau last night. (They will be in Palmer, outside Anchorage, tonight)

Not only did they put on a very good show but I have never in my life heard a guitar picked the way Andy picks it. He is fast, clean and inventive; his Takamine rings, pings, chimes, lilts, thumps and roars in anger and fades and cries in grief - did I mention that I liked it?

And he is the down home kid, the kind you take home for dinner. And he IS related to John Wesley.

Russell- he is just this side of slick. His voice is good, resonant and expressive and he has a wonderful ear for nuance.

I went looking to see what I could find on them.

Tom Russell

What others say about Tom Russell:
Russell stands well apart from the rest of the acoustic guitar toting crowd.
    --New Yorker, 4/12/04

Like Carl Sandburg, Russell has honored the painful birthing of pioneer and early twentieth century America ... a brutal honesty and tenderness sets his songs apart, their simplicity is endearing.
    --True West, 5/04

Russell's compositional abilities have only grown stronger with time, as has the empathy and moral authority he invests in the songs of others.
    --Portand-Willamette Weekly 9/04

[Russell] seems to have invented (and he keeps reinventing) the Americana genre.
    --Columbus Other 3/04

Russell's finest work would get the nod from Woody Guthrie himself.
    --Alanna Nash, Entertainment Weekly

Tom Russell is perhaps the finest singer-songwriter active in roots music ... his songs unfold like little movies.
    --Montreal Gazette 3/04
Russell's work is among the most moving and literary of the past thirty years, an antidote to the recent trajectory of self-absorption in American singer-songwriting . . . his story-songs are unlike any others, including those by the acknowledged best: Paul Simon, Shane McGowan and Bob Dylan.
    --Andrew Marcus, East Bay Express, 11/02
[Russell's] best songs underscore the human condition and capture the soul of the common man with uncommon decency.
    --Mary Houlihan, Chicago Sun-Times, 4/01
If California has a "musician laureate," Tom Russell would be an ideal candidate.
    --Santa Cruz Sentinel, 11/02
The master of the western-theme narrative song is Tom Russell.
    --Glen Starkey, New Times, 6/02
Tom Russell is the John Steinbeck of country song.
    --Patricia McCormick, author, Lady Bullfighter
Tom Russell is an original, a brilliant songwriter with a restless curiosity and an almost violent imagination.

Annie Prouxl, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Shipping News

Russell's Man From God summons the spirit of Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass" . . . Russell's reach is both wide and deep, balancing the grand sweep of history with the individual histories of his ancestors.    --Charles M. Young, The Atlantic Monthly
Russell's Man From God is awesome in its musical and lyrical purview and worthier than Billboard's top 20 albums put together.
    --Parke Puterbaugh, Stereo Review
Tom Russell is perhaps the finest singer-songwriter active in roots music . . . his songs unfold like little movies.
    --Mike Regenstreif, Montreal Gazette, 3/01
With convincing characters and historical imagery, Russell's songwriting opens the senses, and his performances deliver us to the heart of the scenes he evokes. An American master.
    --Scott Holter, Seattle Weekly, 10/02
And Andy:

Andrew Hardin


"After witnessing a performance in California in September, 2001, Tom Montgomery of San Francisco wrote: "... I can say that I'm pretty sure that I've never heard anyone in my life play the guitar any better than Andrew Hardin." http://www.andrewhardin.com/bio.html

"And that's enough. The guy has fingers like spiderlegs. Long, slender, and fast! First echoing a touch of the melody, then reaching up the neck in flurries of chords and counter-melodies. Amazing to watch, awesome to hear."

Subject: RE: Tom Russell and Andrew Hardin- Great
From: GUEST,Texas Guest
Date: 17 Nov 05 - 08:11 PM

I saw Tom Russell and Andrew Hardin here in Fort Worth a short time ago and I was most impressed. I cannot believe I've lived in Texas as long as I have and not seen Tom Russell, but... I am a working folksinger and while watching Andy play (and, yes, he is mesmerizing)
I became acutely aware that he had the finest acoustic/electric sound I have ever heard. I approached him after the first set and we chatted a bit. I told him how good I thought he was and that I was further blown away by the fact that he was getting that sound out of a $600 mahogany Takamine. He laughted and insisted that it was not
mahogany, but plywood. He was running the thing through a Baggs D/I that contained a processor. The sound was simply awesome - full, strong, all-encompassing yet not overpowering - easy on the ears.
My work-horses are both Takamine - a Santa Fe and a 2001 LTD - both very nice, but they cannot hold a candle to Hardin's mahogany sound.

I approached Tom Russell after the final set and we, too, chatted a bit. I told him that I had worked with Michael Smith several years ago and as much as I admire and respect Michael - Tom Russell is second to no one. This guy works a great pen. He had one line from a song that he announced as new that just blew me away; it was,
"Don't throw your dreams away, they may save your life some day."
That is just a powerful line just standing on it's own away from a story or any connecting lyric.

I've just worked up one of Tom's tunes called "Bluewing," and I've got two more in the works. Of course, I've been doin' "Navaho Rug" for years - gotta do "Navaho Rug" in Texas. I'd surely like to do more Tom Russell songs but I'm also in the midst of working up a James Keelaghan tune, and a Dave Mallett tune, and another Nanci Griffith tune, and an old Chuck Pyle tune, and another Stan Rogers
tune, and, oh hell, there's just too many great songs out there - I
gotta' head on and get back to work - enjoy Tom Russell y'all.

Subject: RE: Tom Russell and Andrew Hardin- Great
From: open mike
Date: 17 Nov 05 - 09:11 PM

Tom Russell is a genius!!
I do Bluewing, in fact if you check
my profile you will see me with one!!

we have threads about him including this one:

http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=78983#1425591

i heard the Claude Dallas was ini the news recently//
either released from jail or died//
don't remember which.

Subject: RE: Tom Russell and Andrew Hardin- Great
From: Ebbie
Date: 17 Nov 05 - 10:53 PM

I can't believe I missed all of those previous threads about Tom Russell! Lots of good information there.

Subject: RE: Tom Russell and Andrew Hardin- Great
From: Francy
Date: 18 Nov 05 - 07:58 PM

refresh

Subject: RE: Tom Russell and Andrew Hardin- Great
From: Ebbie
Date: 18 Nov 05 - 10:43 PM

The other night I bought three of Russell's CD; I'm only on the second. The first one I heard - Hot Walker I didn't particularly like it. But that's the first time. I'll go back later.

On the other hand, the one I'm listening to at the moment, The Man from God Knows Where' is a treasure. Great songs, both originals and covers, very well done. Iris Dement and Dolores Keane and Dave Van Ronk and I don't know who all do some of them. I love it.

But now I've got to turn it off and go downstairs for my Friday Night Music gathering.

Oh - the other night I bought one CD of Andrew Hardin's to give tonight to a remarkable local youngster, Ethan Nichol. Ethan is going to be phenomenal and I think Hardin's picking will just inspire him further.

Subject: RE: Tom Russell and Andrew Hardin- Great
From: Midchuck
Date: 19 Nov 05 - 07:42 AM

Ebbie, TMFGKW is the best of all.

But you also want Cowboy Real, Indians Cowboys Horses Dogs, and The Long Way Around. (Keep in mind that I love most everything he does but his western/cowboy material best, so others might disagree with these choices.)

Peter.

Subject: RE: Tom Russell and Andrew Hardin- Great
From: GUEST,Texas guest
Date: 19 Nov 05 - 08:14 AM

Oooh, Tom Russell favorites. I like all of these songs - a lot - and would love to do them all, but how many songs can you do from one artist without becoming a cover act for that artist. Anyway...
"Amelia's Railroad Flat," "Bluewing," "Gallo del Cielo," "Hallie Lonigan," "Mineral Wells," "Rose Of San Joaquin," "Veterans Day," and
"When Sinatra Played Juarez." Of course, he could reunite with Nanci Griffith and they could rewrite the phone book and record it and I would probably buy it. Cheers.

Subject: RE: Tom Russell and Andrew Hardin- Great
From: Midchuck
Date: 19 Nov 05 - 09:41 AM

I like all of these songs - a lot - and would love to do them all, but how many songs can you do from one artist without becoming a cover act for that artist?

Well, I do:

Mineral Wells
Haley's Comet
William Faulkner in Hollywood
Tonight We Ride
The Basque
California Snow
The Sky Above, the Mud Below
Mouth of the Mussellshell (TR & Ian Tyson co-write)
Claude Dallas (ditto)
No Telling (by Linda Thompson, but in TR's adaptation).

My wife sings lead on Hallie Lonigan.

And I keep meaning to finish learning Gallo Del Cielo.

And my wife keeps meaning to learn When Irish Girls Grow Up

(But we keep forgetting, and singing "Isn't it a pity, when kitty cats throw up!")

Is that too many?

Peter.

Subject: RE: Tom Russell and Andrew Hardin- Great
From: Ebbie
Date: 19 Nov 05 - 02:19 PM

At last night's music, one musician did 'Dance Hall Girls'.

The third Tom Russell CD I have is 'Song of the West'.

Subject: RE: Tom Russell and Andrew Hardin- Great
From: Judge Mental
Date: 19 Nov 05 - 05:30 PM

"Dance Hall Girls" is an old Allan Fraser (Fraser & DeBolt) song. One of the great things about Tom Russell is that he also sings and records songs that he didn't write.

I think Hotwalker is a fabulous album, but it can't be approached as a standard CD. It's more like an audio film documentary.

I also think that The Man from God Knows Where is the finest accomplishment of ANY artist in folk music in the past 25 or more years.

I'm going to Ottawa for the Canadian Folk Music Awards on December 10. It turns out that Tom Russell & Andrew Hardin are playing in Montreal on December 8, followed by Finest Kind on December 9. My road to Ottawa runs through Montreal so I know where I'll be on the 8th and 9th.

Subject: RE: Tom Russell and Andrew Hardin- Great
From: Midchuck
Date: 19 Nov 05 - 06:19 PM

Just found out they're going to be in Fellows...I mean Bellows Falls, VT, about an hour from me, on Tue., 12/6.

ROOOOOAAAAADD TRIIIP.....

Peter.

Subject: RE: Review: Tom Russell and Andrew Hardin in Juneau
From: Elmore
Date: 19 Mar 18 - 03:29 PM

Due to my interest in traditional folk music it took me forever to discover Tom Russell. Saw him on Concert Window. I play his songs every day. definitely one of the greats.