THE GREAT American poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti has described Americana singer-songwriter Tom Russell as “Johnny Cash, Jim Harrison and Charles Bukowski rolled into one”.
“I feel a great affinity with Tom Russell’s songs,” the poet said, “for he is writing out of the wounded heart of America”. The composer Van Dyke Parks, who worked with Brian Wilson on Smile said: “I so admire Tom Russell’s work. It's fine craft, and posey, none of which dwarfs its embracing humanity and urgings”.
Galway audiences are in for a treat then when Russell plays Kelly’s, Bridge Street on Friday January 27 at 8pm., where he will perform songs from his most recent album Mesabi, alongside other songs from a back catalogue which stretches back to 1976.
“My career seems to have gone in the opposite direction from a lot of people whose notoriety came over their first half dozen records,” says Russell. “Mine didn’t. My career built very slowly, and then I moved to El Paso in ’97, further outside than anybody could imagine.
“By not plugging into the machine, the records I’ve made in the past 10 years have been my strongest and most outside records, especially the past two. It seems that the older I get, the more I’ve been able to keep on the outside.”
USA Today has called Russell “our finest writer/criminologist/poet/taxi driver/painter” while novelist Annie Proulx has praised him as “an original, a brilliant songwriter with a restless curiosity and an almost violent imagination”.
In short this is a concert not to be missed.
Admission is €15. Tickets are availab le from Kelly’s on 091 - 563804 or email [email protected]
