- Tom Russell
Modern Art
HighTone Records
- By William Michael Smith
-
 Having
to step past Borderland, one of the finest albums of his
career, Tom Russell departs from his usual narrowly focused thematic
methods on Modern Art. Instead, he offers a loose mixture
of personal favorites by other writers and new stories of his
own. The effect is similar to paintings from different artists
hung in the same gallery.
Recorded in Austin, Modern Art is a folk music lover's
dream. It features Russell on quiet, intense duets with Nanci
Griffith interpreting Emmylou Harris's "Ballad of Sally
Rose," Dave Alvin's "Bus Station," and Griffith's
own "Gulf Coast Highway." In Carl Brouse's "American
Hotel," a dying, impoverished Stephen Foster (who can lay
claim to being the father of "Americana music" as well
as anyone else) hallucinates scenes from his standards like "Old
Kentucky Home" and "Swannee River."
Russell's own compositions are biographical sketches in which
he inhabits sports heroes and notables, seamen and unsavories.
A withered Mickey Mantle, "The Kid From Spavinaw,"
looks back on his storied life and pines only for the dust of
Oklahoma as he notes with resignation "when God starts throwin'
change-ups / you can't swing with fame and wealth." A warm
calypso beat underscores Russell's joyous homage, "Muhammad
Ali," as the proud 20th century icon recounts the crucial
events in his life. "Racehorse Haynes" portrays the
legendary Houston trial lawyer from the point of view of a prominent
citizen accused of murdering a prostitute, and Russell pithily
indicts local justice with "down here in Texas, money still
talks / you murder your wife, you're still gonna walk / you blacks
and chicanos, ain't it a shame / you're goin' to Huntsville if
you can't afford him." The murky "Tijuana Bible"
explores an interesting tangent to the highly publicized mystery
surrounding actress Lana Turner's lover, L.A. gangster Johnny
Stompanato ("they buried him at sundown with a mariachi
band / and a Tijuana Bible in his hand"). A seedy film noir
private detective digs up the body thinking he will discover
the secret behind the murder in the pornographic comic book in
Stompanato's casket, but the idea literally blows up in his face.
Russell also creates a realistic downbeat vision of the contradictions
of Los Angeles by imaginatively setting Charles Bukowski's poem
"Crucifix In A Death Hand" to music and capping it
with a verse from Warren Zevon's "Carmelita." (A book
of Russell's correspondence with Bukowski will be published next
year.)
The album is littered with characteristic Russell insights
like "fairy tales are funny little things / unless they're
happening to you." In the autobiographical title track,
Russell manages to summarize his life, encapsulate the second
half of the 20th century, and suggest a thesis for the album:
"There's two damn things that'll break your heart / Modern
love and modern art."
Like modern art, Russell's latest album may not be as focused
and rigidly disciplined as his previous records, but.he's still
managed to create a striking American canvas worthy of hanging
on any wall by choosing not to color neatly inside the lines
this time out.
*www.hightone.com
Contact William Michael Smith at wms-at-rockzilla.net
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