Tom Russell - Borderland

There's something about Texas and songwriters. I could use up the alotted space for this review just listing noteworthy songwriters who have come from Texas or else have moved there and put down roots. There are so many exemplary names that listing them is pointless. Better to say that the artist at hand, Tom Russell, is another songwriter who does the Lone Star State proud.

Russell is something of a living legend among his colleagues, and this album does nothing to gainsay that status. The aptly named Borderland focuses on the border between Texas and Mexico (usually in the vicinity of Juarez) and tells stories about the people there. The songs speak for themselves. The best ones employ a good short story's grasp of people, how they interact and the things the artist should leave out in order to present the story best. What Russell leaves unsaid is often as important as what he says, and these spaces in the narratives add reality to the songs. The protagonists become real people whose motives are as cloudy as the real people we know, unlike the characters in so many songs whose roles are to create tidy scenarios and outcomes. ~ Full Review at Rambles Magazine

Track Listing :

• Touch Of Evil
• Down The Rio Grande
• When Sinatra Played Juarez
• Where The Dream Begins
• Hills Of Old Juarez
• Santa Fe At Midnight
• Next Thing Smokin'
• California Snow
• Let It Go
• What Work Is
• Road It Gives Road It Takes Away