Museum of Memories

Tom Russell
Museum of Memories 1972–2002
Executive Producers Ed Becker and John Yuelkenbeck
(July, 2002)
Ed Becker is the father I never had: kind, intelligent, fun, and all that, to be sure . . .
but just as important is that he’s even more of a music snob than I am. I hear about a
new disc being released—he’s already had the promo for a week. I mention a hot new
band—he tells me who’s in it, who discovered them, who’s producing the record, and
which label it’s coming out on. And then he goes into the details.
I first met Ed ten years ago. After interviewing Tom Russell for the late, great
Sound magazine, my publisher Corky Carrel and I arranged to sponsor a Kansas City
gig for Tom and his band. I was impressed enough to tag along with them the next
night to their St. Louis show. On the trip across the state, Tom told me all about
“Digger,” the funeral home director from Mt. Olive, Illinois, and how he had been
Tom’s biggest fan since way back. We hit it off immediately.
A couple of years later, Ed hired Tom to play a birthday party for his wife, Shelley.
He invited me and offered to let me stay at the funeral home. Things had moved
rapidly in those two years: I was now managing Tom’s mailing list and had designed
the cover for Box of Visions. Tom had sent me a couple of unreleased demo tapes, and
I was feeling like part of the inner circle. Little did I know.
Ed and I were headed out to check out the concert site when he stopped and said,
“Let me grab a couple of things to listen to on the drive up.” He pulled a handful of
tapes out of a cardboard box, and for the next half hour he was popping tapes in and
out of the car’s cassette deck. “Shipwreck Kelly,” “The Glutton,” “Mineral Wells,” one
after another, they just kept coming. “Here’s one I think you’ll like . . .” Astounding.
Tom winced when I raved about all his great unreleased material. As with all
artists, he’s always moving on to new territory and not interested in revisiting his past.
Too bad for him. That day, Ed and I teamed up on a crusade. Well, let me clarify: I
joined Ed on his crusade. For the past decade, we’ve both been pestering Tom to release
a collection of rarities and outtakes. “Busting my chops” is how Tom refers to it.
With 2002 marking thirty years since the release of the 1972 Mule Train 45, we
finally wore Tom down and he reluctantly agreed to let Ed and I compile this disc.
The hardest part has been in deciding which tracks to use. There is easily enough
strong material for additional releases—the second volume is pretty much in the can
already, if this one is successful. Just don’t ask Tom to play any of these in concert;
that won’t help the cause. In fact, don’t even mention that you like any of these songs.
My first inclination wasn’t to go the chronological route. That style of compilation
conveys a sense of history, but doesn’t always play well on its own. I often prefer
sequencing like Dylan’s Biograph, where the tracks might be scrambled by date, but
provide more interesting juxtapositions and give the project its unique flow. In Tom’s
case, these songs vary in style and performance so much that they worked well on
both levels, so I left them in the order recorded: a survey of thirty years in the business.
Tom only refused a couple of our choices. I argued that Dylan hadn’t released
“Blind Willie McTell” because he didn’t think it was good enough, but didn’t get very
far, so a few classics will have to remain locked away. As is, it took some convincing
before he agreed to let us use “Strung Out,” because he’s embarrassed by his early
vocals. “Shipwreck Kelly,” recorded for a planned third Hardin & Russell album that
never materialized, was chosen to represent Tom’s years with Patricia Hardin. For you
latecomers: she’s no relation to Andrew—he met up with Tom in New York after Robert
Hunter urged Tom out of retirement. “Cross of Guadalupe” is from Tom and Andrew’s
first live gig together, opening for Hunter at the Lonestar in New York. The tape made
from the show wasn’t the best quality, but definitely a moment worth preserving.
Besides “Strung Out,” the only other previously released track is the Springsteen
cover, “Shut Out The Light,” the b-side of a European single. O.K., for you sticklers, “La
Galué” was released on As The Crow Flies, a tape sold at early gigs, and some of these
songs have been covered by other artists, most notably “The Heart” by Sarah Elizabeth
Campbell and “Biggest Bordertown” by Bob Neuwirth. The first time I interviewed
Tom, I blathered on about Neuwirth’s great version of “Bordertown” without a clue that
he had co-written it. Tom’s take is a rejected Box of Visions demo, as is “Ten Cent
Lemonade,” possibly the only Tom Russell song with a happy ending. Can’t have that!
A duet with Katy Moffatt of “Mineral Wells,” from which this disc’s title comes,
was released on The Long Way Around, but this version is a Tom Russell Band rehearsal
take. You can tell by the flubbed “heard her stories” line that it was never intended as
a final, but it represents an interesting glimpse of the band at work. Speaking of Katy,
those are her backup vocals and co-write with Tom on “Big Fool,” live from Austin’s
Cactus Café. “Hank & Audrey,” released as a duet on Katy’s Midnight Radio, is performed
here live by Tom, accompanied by Andrew and the Skeletons’ Bobby Lloyd Hicks.
Several other buried gems from the prolific Tom Russell Band have made it on
here, naturally, but the band was a thing of the past in 1995 when Fats Kaplin’s wife,
Kristy Rose, opened for Tom in St. Louis on St. Patrick’s Day. Fats joined Tom and
Andrew for the traditional “Roddy McCorley,” a special reunion moment for those of
us lucky enough to be there. Not quite as memorable: cited my first speeding ticket at
5 a.m. that morning, rushing Fats to the airport on his way to a Tractors gig.
I’ve received e-mails requesting that we include Tom’s version of a Man From God
Knows Where song that he didn’t sing on his folk opera. Others wanted to hear one
of Tom’s famous in-concert raps, so we’ve “topped off” his wistful performance of
“When Irish Girls Grow Up” with a hilarious extended intro.
Specifically for this collection, Tom provided his Borderland outtake of the old
George Jones classic, “Open Pit Mine.” He also gave us permission to use a new song
that he’s been performing at recent shows, “The Dogs Bark But The Caravan Moves
On.” That’s Tom, always moving on. But Becker and Son appreciate his giving us this
opportunity to bust his chops.
—John Yuelkenbeck
the dying days of August, 2002
,
Vol. 2
S
.
No
4
When we left Tiny Montgomery and Tom
Russell last month, they had just begun
discussing Tom’s popularity in Europe:
People in the U.S. don’t realize country
music is as big as it is over there.
Definitely. That part of Europe has liked
country music for about ten years. Scandinavia is probably the hippest audience in
the world, even hipper than the U.S. They
speak English very well, and they also know
a tremendous amount about American
roots music, especially the Norwegians,
and they’re really into singer-songwriters,
so it’s the perfect market for me.
S
UND
– final installment –
You often draw on real-life characters in
your songs . . . William Faulkner, Edith Piaf
. . . I assume the down and out jailbird in
“Blue Wing,” [from Poor Man’s Dream] is a
real character?
He’s a combination of characters with
real-life facts. I hate to say anything more
about it [laughter].
And Ian Tyson recorded your song about the
outlaw Claude Dallas.
Yeah, I just recorded that on the cowboy
collection called Cowboy Real which will
also be out on Rounder. Eleven songs
based around cowboy stuff. It has “Claude
Dallas,” which is a true story, and “Navajo
Rug,” which I co-wrote with Tyson—we do
it as a duet on this one. “Gallo de Ciello,” an
old song of mine about cock fighting that
he recorded on a CBS album, we did a duet
UND
Winter ’94
on that. The rest of the collection is some of my older
songs and some newer ones
with cowboy themes.
Wilder
More dan than Woodsto
ck!
gerous
tha
Louder
than Loll n Altamont!
apalooz
a!
OLL O
VER,
BILL G
RAHA
M
It’s offic
Tom Russ ial: SOUND is spon
ell
Grand EmpBand in concert soring the
May
oriu
5th
m.
show at
8 P.M. (sha Iris DeMent ope at the
ns
rp!) Tick
$8 (plus loath
ets are a the
some servi
mere
ce charg
e) at all
outlets.
,
Vol. 2
S
.
No
4
UND
“I started out even, you know. Now I’m five million in
the hole . . . forty-one number one records and five
million dollars down. How does that compute? If I
thought we could get wealthy enough that you could
beat cancer and AIDS and all the other things that are
after our asses, then I’d be worried about finances
real seriously. I don’t really care if I’m broke or not
because I can walk down the street and get me a
goddamn hamburger with a song.”
R
What attracts you to so many
of these “fallen angel” types
of characters?
I approach songs more or
less from an individual
standpoint rather than
making any big political or
message thing out of it. So if
some striking character has a story that
interests me and I chew on it for a while . . .
with Faulkner,
for instance, I’m
not that much
in to him as a
writer per se,
I was into the
situation he got
himself into,
like with Fitzgerald, having
to go to Hollywood to make
money to do
real art, and yet
that experience
destroyed him
in a way.
Someone who
fought against
his situation was the early black boxer Jack
Johnson, a hero who’s a little bit different from
some of the other characters you’ve sung about.
Racism was a part of that story . . .
—Merle Haggard, Journal of Country Music
“I’m very country influenced, from quite young . . .
Merle Haggard.”
—Mick Jagger, Guitar Player
your
take brings out more passion and empathy for the character, and it
also stresses the irony of the situation better.
His version is a little rougher. I had basically the story and Dave helped me flesh
it out and check out some of the facts. I like
writing with writers like Alvin and Peter
Case, Dan Zanes of the Del Fuegos . . . they
take me into another area musically, to
write more of that ballsy kind of roots deal.
Tell me more about the co-writing process.
Besides Peter Case, Bob Neuwirth is also
listed on “Beyond The Blues.” How did that
come about?
Neuwirth barged in when we were
writing that song in Santa Monica. It was
a nice day, about sunset—I love Neuwirth,
but he barged in and said, “let’s go watch
the sunset on the beach,” and as we were
writing “Beyond The Blues,” he started
throwing lines in and some of them
How’s the weather in Winnipeg? Turn to page 4
INSIDE
[Interrupting] Because of his association with
white women?
Yeah, he used to chase a lot of white women,
and back in the early 1900s that was a big pissoff to a lot of people. But what got me on to
that song was a line from Leadbelly who
wrote some kind of song about the Titanic
where he said, “Jack Johnson went down to
get on board and the captain said, ‘sorry boy
we ain’t hauling coal’ ” because of the color of
his skin . . .
NOTHING ABOUT THE POGUES
[Rudely interrupting again] I can’t forget Bill
Haley along with these others. Dave Alvin’s
version of “Haley’s Comet” is pretty good, but
Page 12
FARM AID V:
WORDS FROM THE FRONT
Page 5
Page 7
YOU GOTTA LOVETT
Page 10
INGÉNUE: INGENIOUS OR
INJUDICIOUS?
Sound magazine (April, 1992)
Interview with Tom and ad for
first Kansas City gig—opening
act, hometown girl Iris DeMent
Winter ’94
T
HREE YEARS AGO I SANG writing, performing, and singing up to snuff—
with Dave Alvin at the Ritz in New still creative—but radio ignores you. The busiYork when he opened for Merle ness folks in Nashville act like they’d be happy
Haggard. Merle performed for over two to embalm and box-up Merle and George
hours; a flawless waltz through his catalog. Jones and Cash, and put them away on a shelf
No bullshit. No set list. He picked out a in the Hall of Fame.
I talked to Haggard for a minute before the
song, counted it off, sang soulfully and
pointed out all of the solos. I’d grown up show. He looked past me with that hundred
listening to Merle on the West Coast in the yard stare. The death row smile. He warmed
60s. I was struck again by the quality of up when he found out I was from California.
the material and the depth of that singing He started in on some blues stories about
voice. The audience, mostly under thirty, Johnny Cash and the Collins Kids. He was just
seemed to be discovering Haggard for the getting into it when the road manager pulled
first time. They’d discovered Johnny Cash a him away. They handed him his telecaster and
pointed to the stage.
few years before.
Two years later he returned
Merle did an encore and
to New York. I took a girlfriend
packed up. The audience
INSIDE
to see him at Tramps. She was
wouldn’t leave. They kept
a big Lefty Frizzell fan; I knew
stomping. The roadies had to
PASS THE
she’d love Merle. Tramps is a
set up the drums again and
PICANTE: DUG
loud, obnoxious New York
bring Merle off the bus for
HEADS SOUTH TO
“roots” bar with inflated drink
another encore. He seemed
OLD EL PASO
prices, wired waitresses, and a
genuinely moved and amazed
page 5
fifty thousand dollar sound
that anyone in New York really
system that feeds back all
gave a shit. Here was a man
CHRISTMAS CASH: night. It was a step down for
caught up in that legendary
ONE MORE ROUND Haggard. Merle stumbled on
rut Johnny Cash had experiPage 12
stage, wavered, slid into “Misenced: what does a legend do
ery and Gin,” and tried to find
in the later years? You’re still
his footing, like Archie Moore in his two
hundredth fight. The yuppies and drunk
lawyers began shouting requests half way
through the second song. Haggard looked
baffled and twenty years older than at the
Ritz show. Another night, another bad gig.
I thought of Lefty Frizzell playing out
his final years, drunk, on Army bases in
Greenland and Guam. The Tramps gig was
like seeing Mozart playing piano in a border
whorehouse . . . something like that. Pick
your own metaphor. Haggard is the one believable heir to Hank Williams and Lefty
Frizzell; so here’s Haggard at Tramps and
Garth Brooks is playing stadiums. I’m not
out to demean hard working artists, but
Brooks, in the interviews I’ve read, seems
more concerned with the quality of the tshirts he sells than actually crafting lasting
country songs. (Haggard: “I don’t really
understand the Garth thing . . . he’s a nice
kid, but he’s not turning my crank.” Amen.)
A few weeks later, I talked to Dave Alvin
about co-producing a Haggard tribute
record. A group of roots writers singing
Merle songs. It would have to be a good
one, with believable artists. The tribute
record concept has been done to death and
You don’t have very far to go to page <None>
Sound magazine (Winter, 1994)
Final issue—Tom writes the cover
story on Merle Haggard and the
making of Tulare Dust
Rejected cover designs for Box of Visions (1993) and The Early Years (1994)
The Dark Angel Stor y: “Dark Angel” is released here for the first time as a bonus track.
With the help of his friend Jon Polk, Tom’s Poor Man’s Dream CD was originally selfreleased on the “800 Dark Angel” label in an allusion to the song. That disc was marketed
exclusively through the toll-free 800-DARKANG number, with Jon Polk’s mother, Doris,
temporarily handling Tom’s mailing list after long-time fan Germaine L’eveque had
become unable to maintain the records. When John Yuelkenbeck and Corky Carrel
picked up Tom’s database and merchandising duties, they opted to keep the “Dark Angel”
name and phone number. John subsequently had a blue wing tattooed on his shoulder,
and used the same artwork in the Dark Angel logo. The name has no satanic implications.
Proceeds from the sale of this disc help pay for newsletter and postcard mailings, as
well as help in maintaining Tom’s website, http://www.tomrussell.com.
HERE’S
MUD
IN
YOUR
EYE
FROM
TOM
RUSSELL
C
owboy Real came out of an idea
&
CO.
NEW
ALBUM!
“COWBOY
REAL”
to sit down in front of a microphone, with an acoustic guitar,
and sing a few old cowboy tunes.
It was recorded a year ago in March
at Bones Tones Studio in Brooklyn. Bones
Tones is a fine little room where we previously recorded
“Northern Towns” and where I co-produced Katy Moffat’s
next record that may be called The Greatest Show On
Earth. Look for that one—it’s got at least eight songs I
co-wrote with Katy. It should be out in the fall on Rounder.
Cowboy Real contains eleven songs; a blend of
DAVID GAHR
PHOTO:
new, old, and reconsidered. There are two duets with
Ian Tyson, a great influence as well as a great singer and
cowboy song writer. He swaps verses with me on a new
version of “Navajo Rug” and “Gallo del Cielo.” I also recorded an
outlaw ballad I wrote with Ian—“Claude Dallas.” There are two cowboy poems I wrote the
music for, a couple of new songs, and covers of Joe Ely’s “Indian Cowboy” and Blackie
Farrell’s “Sonora’s Death Row.” This one is an acoustic record with some fine picking by
Andrew Hardin and Fats Kaplin. The reaction in Europe and Canada has been great.
We hope to be back in the studio before the end of the year for another band album.
Rounder/Philo has released Road To Bayamon, Hurricane Season, Poor Man’s Dream,
and Cowboy Real. Round Tower (in Ireland and the U.K.) has released a sixteen track
compilation titled Beyond St. Olav’s Gate which has opened the door for us over there . . .
The last year has seen a lot of touring; co-production of Sylvia Tyson’s new album
Gypsy Cadillac and Katy Moffatt’s next album; and also the success of Suzy Bogguss’ version
of “Outbound Plane.” Keep in touch on future events through the 800 number, or order
through the P.O. Box in Boca Raton. See you soon.
First “Blood Shots” newsletter
(Summer 1992)
The Tom Russell website
Analog to digital conversion and mastering by
Whirlwind Studios, Kansas City. All selections
from Ed Becker’s cassette and vinyl archives,
except “Shut Out The Light,” “Mineral Wells,”
and “Roddy McCorley,” from the collection of
John Yuelkenbeck; “Open Pit Mine” from a
digital file provided by Tom Russell; and “The
Dogs Bark,” a combination of soundboard CD
and VHS tape provided by Todd Garren.
Packaging: Coleridge Design, Kansas City
Printing: MPress, Kansas City
Sincerest thanks to: Shelley Becker; Bill, Marilyn, Joe, and Beth Camarata at Off Broadway;
Swallow Hill; Cactus Café; Todd Garren; Bill Lavery & Corky Carrel at VillageRecords.com;
Larry Weir at KDHX; Johnny Babcock; Carol, Greg, Brice, Roger, and Amy at Coleridge;
and a special thanks to Tom Russell, Andrew Hardin, Fats Kaplin,
Billy Troiani, Richard Crane, Charles Caldarola, Mike Warner, Barry Ramus,
Patricia Hardin, Susan Pillsbury, Katy Moffatt,
and all the other talented musicians playing on these songs.
Cover: Illinois State Fair
(August 20,1988)
Billy Troiani, Fats Kaplin,
Ed Becker, Tom Russell, Andrew Hardin,
Charles Caldarola
All songs written by Tom Russell
except: “Shut Out The Light”(Springsteen)
“The Heart” (Russell/Trooper)
“Big Fool” and “Hank & Audrey”
(Russell/Mof fatt)
“Ten Cent Lemonade” (Russell/Rhody)
“Biggest Bordertown” (Neuwirth/Russell)
“Roddy McCorley” (traditional)
“Open Pit Mine” (Gentry)
“Dark Angel” (Russell/Young)
Dark Angel
P. O. Box 16083, Shawnee, KS 66203
1-800-327-5264
www.tomrussell.com
DACD3 ©2002 Dark Angel
Mule Train:
Tom Russell,
piano; Rod
Gomm, guitar;
Larry Greene,
bass; D.J.
MacPherson,
drums (1972)
Norwegian
single:
Tom Russell,
vocals, guitar;
Andrew
Hardin, lead
guitar, vocals;
Fats Kaplin,
Tex-Mex
accordion;
Billy Troiani,
bass, vocals;
Richard
Crane, drums,
vocals (1986)
Robert Johnson by Tom Russell
Paint on two layers of cardboard; gift to Andrew Hardin
(1990)
Publicity bio—the back lists contact info and discography in baseball card
stats format; Hobbies listed: reading, drawing alligators
(1990)
Initial inspiration notes for The Man From God Knows Where, written
on the hotel stationery where Tom was staying in Ireland
(1997)