Attended a Tom Russell concert tonight

Tom Russell played Don Quixote's tonight in Felton, CA and it was a show that will be remembered for a long, long time.

Actually, check "played" and "show' because it was more performance art. I thought of this parallel -- Jack Nicholson discussing various of his many movies AND escapades -- because when Tom was on stage it was so much more than the offerings of a singer-songwriter. He was the bard of El Paso, musically twining the past and present of himself and others into intriguing directions.

He appeared born to be in front of a crowd -- assured on stage, sharing a mix of stories and songs, alongside elements of teasing, humor and self-deprecation. It was vaudeville, all characters played by Tom Russell.

Mike Regenstreif calls Russell "...the finest singer-songwriter of my generation ..."

Amen to that.

Here's Jeff Schwager on "Mesabi," Russell's latest.

Dave Carter's "Gentle Arms of Eden"

It's always tough to write out the this phrase: the late Dave Carter.

He is missed like few others.

His songbook overflows with intelligent and literate lyrics and one song in particular -- Gentle Arms of Eden -- particularly resonates with an engaging rhythm and clever, picture-inducing words. Such as:

"... And the people sang rejoicing when the field was glad with grain ..."

"... And the world is ill with greed and will and enterprise of war ..."

"... Till a single cell did jump and hum for joy as though to say ..."

And this marvelous chorus:

"... This is my home, this is my only home
This is the only sacred ground that i have ever known
And should i stray in the dark night alone
Rock me goddess in the gentle arms of eden ..."

The song calls for a video companion piece, illustrating Carter's lyrics.

Dave Carter/Tracy Grammer "Gentle Arms of Eden"

Here are the entire lyrics.

This song is now included in the hymnal in at least one Unitarian Universalist congregation.

It's on the Drum Hat Buddha release.

About Steve Seskin & "Cactus in a Coffee Can"

Steve Seskin resides in the Bay Area, has recorded numerous albums and received many awards yet so many people are unaware of him and his talent. It's difficult to capture his songwriting style but my best attempt is simple yet profound.

As an example, here's one of his most moving (co-written with Allen Shamblin) -- "Cactus in a Coffee Can" in which an adoptee locates her dying birth mother, works out a degree of emotional closure yet all is bittersweet.

The first chorus goes:

"My mama's first love was crack
She made her livin' lyin' on her back
She gave me away on the day that I was born"

Then the daughter offers:  

She said, "The last 10 years I've spent trackin' her down
It just don't seem fair that when I finally found her she was almost gone
We had two weeks together to laugh and to cry
Two weeks to say hello and goodbye
She gave me this little cactus, said it's kinda like me,
It'll hurt you to hold it but it blooms every spring"

Go here and click on #9 "Cactus in a Coffee Can"

Two more Tom Russell items

Found this August 6, 2010 Tongo Rad post at the now defunct Horseflies Music Blog and he does a tremendous job at breaking down Tom Russell's "U.S. Steel" song:

"... By all rights what you’ve got here are the ingredients for some standard blue collar fare, no disputing that. But what makes is stand above all of the rest is just how smartly written the lyric is and how well the arrangement is executed .."

Go here for more and it's definitely worth your while.

and

Here's another broader Tom Russell piece by ScottR at The Agonist, dated March 8, 2011. This line in particular jumped out at me:

"... Music has always been about the lyrics for me ..."

This also hit home:

"... I tried to tell him how much his music meant to me, and how I had lost a very close musician friend a couple years back, and how he had helped fill a hell of hole in my life. I tried to tell him that I had taken a creative writing course at one point in my life and the instructor had pointed out how many writers “take the easy way out” in their writing instead of doing the hard work to get it right. I said that even Dylan was guilty of it at times. I told him that I had never seen him do that. He looked at me, handed me back the CD’s, shook my hand, and said, “Thank you…, that really means a lot to me ...”

Adoption Songs 2: "Someone Who Looks Like Me" by Mary McCaslin

Although not being adopted, songs on the subject have a tendency to strike an emotional chord with me.

Mary McCaslin's "Someone Who Looks Like Me" (from her "Broken Promises CD) is another song on the subject. The clutching at your heart plaintive chorus goes:

"... I would almost give it all to see my family tree
In my life I've never seen someone who looks like me ..."

Here is Mary performing the song.

Here is Mary writing about it.

Here is where her "Broken Promises" CD can be purchased.

Adoption Songs 1: "All This Time" by Paul Kamm & Eleanore McDonald

Although not being adopted, songs on the subject have a tendency to strike an emotional chord with me.

"All This Time" (Fields of Elysian CD) by Paul Kamm and Eleanore McDonald is one such cut. This part in particular is especially moving:

:... Do you live in California or in Tennessee
does the wind blow your hair in some delta breeze
now I keep a place inside that only
you would see
oh but all this time
did you think of me ..."

Unfortunately, I couldn't find it on-line anywhere but the CD can be ordered by going here.

Also, here is the Facebook page of Paul and Eleanore.