Tom Russell is the renaissance man of Americana: a novelist, criminologist, artist and singer-songwriter with an earthy, gutsy voice.
This ambitious folk opera is two and a half hours long – it mixes his own eclectic songs with traditional material, and is performed by a celebrity cast that includes Joe Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Gretchen Peters, with archive recordings of everyone from Walt Whitman to Lead Belly, Johnny Cash, A.L. Lloyd and Bonnie Dobson added in.
The narrative of an Irish boy travelling to the American west in the 1880s allows Russell to mix Irish influences with cowboy ballads, gospel, Mexican and even French-Canadian songs. There are a few over-elaborate patches, but there’s some great and varied music here, from…
320 kbps | 350 MB UL | HF | MC ** FLAC
…the piano-backed ballad Resurrection Mountain to the stomping country-rocker Doin’ Hard Time in Texas, along with entertaining dramatics from Ely and Augie Meyers. A bravely original epic.
ACT ONE
1. Overture [with Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Norwegian Wind Ensemble arr. Mats Hålling]
2. This Is the Last Frontier
3. Guilty/Johnny Behind-the-Deuce [with David Olney]
4. Sam Hall [with Johnny Cash]
5. The Rose of Roscrae
6. Hair Trigger Heart
7. He’ll Be Dead Before He Hits the Ground [with Joe Ely, Augie Meyers]
8. You Gotta Have a Dance/ St James Hospital [with Fats Kaplin, Moses Clear Rock Platt]
9. Ain’t No More Cane On the Brazos [with Jimmy LaFave, Gretchen Peters]
10. The Last Running
11. Home On the Range/America [with Walt Whitman]
12. Just a Closer Walk (with Augie Blood)
13. Cowboy Voices Beyond the Campfire [with Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Jack Hardy, David Massengill, Tex Ritter]
14. He Wasn’t a Bad Kid, When He Was Sober
15. The Sidekick’s Last Testament [with David Olney]
16. Johnny’s Campfire Soliloquy #1
17. The Unfortunate Rake/The Streets of Laredo [with A.L. LLoyd, Jimmie Dale Gilmore]
18. The Hands of Damien
19. This Is the Last Frontier/Campfire Soliloquy #2
20. Carrickfergus/The Water Is Wide [with Finbar Furey]
21. The Fairground Pugilist [with Sourdough Slim]
22. Campfire Soliloquy #3
23. Campfire Ghosts/Cowboy Voices [with Blackie Farrell, Ross Knox, Glenn Orhlin, Pat Russell]
24. Crazy Horse/Custer’s Luck [with John Trudell, Thad Beckman]
25. Johnny Behind-the-Deuce #2—Molokai
26. She Talks to God
27. Rock of Ages/Gunpowder Sunset Overture
ACT TWO
1. The Water Is Wide/Overture [with Maura O’Connell, The Norwegian Wind Ensemble]
2. I Talk to God [with Maura O’Connell]
3. The Bear [with Eliza Gilkyson]
4. The Railroad Boy [with Eliza Gilkyson]
5. Resurrection Mountain
6. When the Wolves No Longer Sing [with Gretchen Peters]
7. Just a Closer Walk with Thee/The Gospel of John, Chapter 4 [with Augie Meyers]
8. Jesus Met the Woman at the Well [with Eliza Gilkyson]
9. Damien (A Crust of Bread, A Slice of Fish, A Cup of Water)
10. Guadalupe/Valentine de la Sierra [with Gretchen Peters, Ana Gabriel]
11. Poor Mother Mexico
12. Gallo del Cielo [with Joe Ely, Ian Tyson]
13. Soliloquy #1/Swiss Yodel Choir
14. En Canadien Errant [with Bonnie Dobson]
15. He’ll Be Dead Before He Hits The Ground #2 [with Joe Ely/Augie Meyers]
16. Doin’ Hard Time in Texas
17. When I Was a Cowboy [with Lead Belly]
18. West Texas Montage [with Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Guy Clark, Dan Penn]
19. Old Rattlebag Blues (Soliloquy #2)
20. Midnight Wine
21. Whiskey in His Blood
22. Tularosa
23. Irish Medley/The Stable
24. Isn’t It Grand? [with Gurf Morlix, Eliza Gilkyson, Augie Meyers, Pat Manske]
25. The Rose of Roscrae [with Maura O’Connell]