April ’92 1 o. 9, N Wilder S U NMo thanDW re d ood S U Nangero Dstock! u Lou s than A der tha ltamon When we left Tiny Montgomery and Tom on that. The rest of the collec - n Lollap t! alooza! Russell last month, they had just begun tion is some of my older OLL songs and some newer ones OVE discussing Tom’s popularity in Europe: R R, BI with cowboy themes. LL GR AHAM People in the U.S. don’t realize country I music is as big as it is over there. What attracts you to so t’s offic T ial: SOU many of these “fallen angel” om Rus ND is sp Definitely. That part of Europe has liked sell Band onsorin types of characters? Grand in conc g the country music for about ten years. Scandi- Emporiu ert May I approach songs more show m. Iris D 5th at t navia is probably the hippest audience in at 8 P.M eMen he or less from an individual . (shar t open the world, even hipper than the U.S. They $8 (plu p!) Tick s the s loathso ets are speak English very well, and they also know standpoint rather than me serv a mer ice charg e a tremendous amount about American making any big political or e) at all outl roots music, especially the Norwegians, and message thing out of it. So if ets. they’re really into singer-songwriters, so it’s some striking character has a story that your the perfect market for me. interests me and I chew on it for a while . ake brings out more pas - with Faulkner, sion and empathy for the character, and it for instance, I’m also stresses the irony of the situation better. not that much His version is a little rougher. I had basi - in to him as a cally the story and Dave helped me flesh writer per se, it out and check out some of the facts. I like SS UU NN DD I was into the writing with writers like Alvin and Peter situation he got Case, Dan Zanes of the Del Fuegos ... they himself into, take me into another area musically, to like with Fitz- write more of that ballsy kind of roots deal. gerald, having to go to Holly- Tell me more about the co-writing process. – final installment – wood to make Besides Peter Case, Bob Neuwirth is also money to do listed on “Beyond The Blues.” How did that real art, and yet come about? that experience Neuwirth barged in when we were destroyed him writing that song in Santa Monica. It was in a way. a nice day, about sunset—I love Neuwirth, but he barged in and said, “let’s go watch Someone who the sunset on the beach,” and as we were fought against writing “Beyond The Blues,” he started You often draw on real-life characters in his situation was the early black boxer Jack throwing lines in and some of them your songs . William Faulkner, Edith Piaf Johnson, a hero who’s a little bit different from How’s the weather in Winnipeg? Turn to page 4 . I assume the down and out jailbird in some of the other characters you’ve sung about. “Blue Wing,” [from Poor Man’s Dream ] is a Racism was a part of that story ... real character? INSIDE He’s a combination of characters with [Interrupting] Because of his association with real-life facts. I hate to say anything more white women? FARM AID V: about it [ laughter ]. Yeah, he used to chase a lot of white women, WORDS FROM THE FRONT and back in the early 1900s that was a big piss- Page 5 And Ian Tyson recorded your song about the off to a lot of people. But what got me on to outlaw Claude Dallas. that song was a line from Leadbelly who NOTHING ABOUT THE POGUES Yeah, I just recorded that on the cowboy wrote some kind of song about the Titanic Page 7 collection called Cowboy Real which will where he said, “Jack Johnson went down to also be out on Rounder. Eleven songs get on board and the captain said, ‘sorry boy YOU GOTTA LOVETT based around cowboy stuff. It has “Claude we ain’t hauling coal ’ ” because of the color of Page 10 Dallas,” which is a true story, and “Navajo his skin ... Rug,” which I co-wrote with Tyson—we do INGÉNUE: INGENIOUS OR it as a duet on this one. “Gallo de Ciello,” an [Rudely interrupting again] I can’t forget Bill INJUDICIOUS? old song of mine about cock fighting that Haley along with these others. Dave Alvin’s Page 12 he recorded on a CBS album, we did a duet version of “Haley’s Comet” is pretty good, but TOM RUSSELL INTERVIEW (continued from page 1) became incorporated in the song. Basically, it’s different with every person. Peter Case and I bang heads whenever we can get together, throw out two or three songs we’ve been working on and settle on one. More than likely you won’t end up with any - thing; sometimes it takes two or three sessions to get one down. I’ve written a lot of songs with Katy Moffatt who’s a very strong singer and melodic songwriter. Working with her it comes easy and we always end up with a song. Do you try working out the lyrics together before the music? I usually have an idea of a title or a set of lyrics ’cause I’m sitting on a lot of lyrics and I run it by somebody who’ll maybe start flesh - OH HAPPY BAND: Andrew Hardin (lead gutar), Billy Troiani (bass), Fats Kaplin (accordion, ing out the music, and then we go back and harmonica, pedal steel guitar, fiddle), Tom Russell (vocals, guitar), and Mike Warner (drums). work on the lyrics based on what kind of mu - months back. Morrissey I’m not familiar with. Dutchman” by Michael Smith. He’s a Chicago sical feel we’re bouncing around, then try to songwriter. It’s a great old kind of folk song He’s familiar with you. When I talked to him polish up the total song. from the late 60s about a guy growing old in your name came up and he said he had a live Holland. Semi-obscure; Steve Goodman You share writing credits on Neuwirth’s tape of you doing “William Faulkner In Holly - recorded it. That, and maybe a few Dylan “Biggest Bordertown.” wood” where you added an extra verse. songs like “Love Minus Zero/No Limit,” I’ve tried to do it a few times, but I don’t There was a verse about Faulkner’s daugh - “Visions of Johanna.” I love that stuff, but it’s have it down—I don’t have that tongue in ter whose horse was going to have a foal and out of my scope. cheek thing that Neuwirth has on it. I haven’t he hated California so much that he loaded been able to pull it off. It was a fun song to the horse up in a trailer and drove it back to I would think you and Robert Earl Keen could work on. Mississippi so the colt wouldn’t be born in do some stuff together, although your not in You’re covered by a lot of people. Jerry Jeff was California. That’s basically what the extra verse quite the funny vein like him or Lyle Lovett. doing “Navajo Rug” when he was here at is about. Yeah, Robert’s pretty much in to the funny thing, but he wrote “The Road Goes On Guitars and Cadillacs. Do you still include it when you do it live? Forever,” which is a good song. I don’t think he That was the title of his last album, too. Sometimes, if some fanatic’s out there I’ll co-writes that much, occasionally with Lyle, mess with their head a little. I don’t do it that A couple of songs on each of your albums but basically he writes by himself. sound perfect for Johnny Cash—”U.S. Steel,” much anymore. It’s from back in ’78 or some - “Lord of the Trains”—then I read on the liner thing. I recorded it on the first Hardin & Have you ever worked with T-Bone Burnett? notes [to Hurricane Season ] that he has cov - Russell album. If you’re really into this stuff, No, I’m supposed to meet him all the time, ered one of your songs. one of the big Tom Russell fans is a funeral di - but we haven’t crossed paths. He’s familiar He cut a version of “Veteran’s Day,” but it’s rector in Mount Olive, Illinois. Real nice guy. with my stuff. I saw Sam Phillips and Bruce only on the European version of Boom Chick- Ed Becker. He will part with it for someone Cockburn a couple of weeks ago, and T-Bone A-Boom. I had breakfast with him once in who’s a real fan. was there, but I didn’t get to meet him. I don’t Switzerland and he’s familiar with “Blue Wing” know what to think about T-Bone yet. He’s in “Dollar’s Worth of Gasoline” is about the and “U.S. Steel.” I think he’d like to cut stuff that whole niche of L.A. people I know like Happy Land disco fire.