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With a career stretching back nearly four decades, and a catalog of more than 20 albums, Tom Russell is already considered one of the great singer/songwriters of our time. Nevertheless, his newest album, Blood and Candle Smoke, a collection of powerful observations and deliberations, takes his work to another level entirely with tremendous songwriting and a new, contemporary spark. Set for a September 15 release on Shout! Factory, Russell will promote the album with a national tour throughout the U.S. beginning in September.
For the new set, featuring some of his most intimate, insightful material, Russell ventured from his home in El Paso, Tex. (where he moved from New York ten years ago), to Tucson' s Wave Lab Studios. Studio owner Craig Schumacher (Neko Case, Iron & Wine, Calexico) co-produced the album with Russell and Joey Burns, John Convertino, Jacob Valenzuela of Calexico providing the bulk of the instrumental support.
The Tucson connection came about after Russell heard the soundtrack to the Bob Dylan film I'm Not There, which featured several younger artists interpreting Dylan songs. “The ones that really stood out to me were the ones backed by Calexico," says Russell. “I thought, how great is that - you've got a new kind of world/mariachi sound but the great writing of Bob Dylan. So I did more research and I found that a lot of the records Calexico, Neko Case and others were making came out of this one studio in Tucson called Wave Lab. I went in there for two weeks and sat on a stool and sang everything live with my guitar, and they built it around that."
“I've finally arrived at a newer sound that I like, and 12 new songs that I really like," he says. “I think I' m really stepping forward into a bigger, broader world with this album." Blood and Candle Smoke Track Listing:
1. East Of Woodstock, West Of Viet Nam
2. Santa Ana Wind
3. Nina Simone
4. Criminology
5. Crosses Of San Carlos
6. Finding You
7. Mississippi River Runnin' Backwards
8. The Most Dangerous Woman In America
9. Don' t Look Down
10. Guadalupe
11. American Rivers
12. Darkness Visible
