Tom Russell
Borderland

Two years have passed since the monumental "The Man From God Knows Where," an album that for Tom Russell could have been the highest, yet possibly his final musical legacy of significant importance. Instead, such an ambitious and demanding project not only didn't mark the swan song for this singer-songwriter but, on the contrary, inspired the new artistic phase that begins precisely in 2001 with "Borderland". TMFGKW remains a unique episode, something absolutely unrepeatable, but from then on, Tom Russell has focused his production on small concept albums, records characterized by a specific territorial setting, or tied to a particular thematic discourse—a challenging choice that has proven successful, resulting in albums of almost always excellent, if not outstanding, quality, as is the case with "Borderland".

"Borderland," as the title and that beautiful, evocative childish drawing on the cover suggest, speaks of a border line; specifically, the border line between Mexico and the United States, the border towns of El Paso and Juarez, with all the atmospheres, epic tales, myths, and legends associated with them. Of course, this setting choice also reflects on the musical level: already in 1995, Tom Russell had explored the Tex-Mex atmospheres with the album "The Rose Of The San Joaquin," a collection of evocative acoustic ballads that, however, lacked the vividness, the powerful emotional charge that instead emanates from the more electric sounds of "Borderland".

Regarded as one of Tom Russell's three essential albums alongside "Poor Man's Dream" from 1990 and precisely "The Man From God Knows Where," this album possesses an impressive visual and communicative strength, even by the high standards of Our Man, enriched by gems like the majestic acoustic ballad "A Touch Of Evil", where the exemplary use of mariachi brass stands out, highlighting the atmosphere of a song that pays homage to the namesake 1958 film with Orson Welles and Marlene Dietrich, set in the same borderland where Tom Russell ventures, the best and the first of a series of intense and emotional ballads, packed with stories and passions, that form the backbone of the album: "Down The Rio Grande", essential, bitter, and rarefied, the bittersweet tenderness of "Where The Dream Begins", a clash of dreams and disillusionments, and the melancholic "California Snow", interpreted by a voice that has aged like fine whiskey over the years, becoming deeper, more vibrant, and fascinating, fitting these types of songs perfectly, offering interpretations of rare beauty.

Among the numerous ballads of "Borderland," the most distinctive and evocative yet also the saddest and most poignant is "The Santa Fe At Midnight", in my opinion one of the highest peaks of Tom Russell's repertoire: a true poem, where a train passing at midnight becomes an opportunity to celebrate the beauty, the arcane charm of what is as much a state of mind as a geographical place, surrounded by an acoustic and whispered, nocturnal melody that flows into an epic chorus, standing majestic like the silhouette of a wolf howling at the moon. However, "Borderland" is not only emotion, contemplation, and yearning but also energy, transport, and warm, evocative western scenarios, particularly the relentless "The Hills Of Old Juarez", a typical story of love and drug smuggling, and also the brilliant, fun "When Sinatra Played Juarez" and "The Next Thing Smokin', where besides the Tex-Mex sounds interpreted with the usual passion and credibility, there is also an excellent performance by Andrew Hardin, the historic guitarist of the Tom Russell Band, a great protagonist even in the more strictly rock episodes, the beautiful "Let It Go" and "The Road It Gives And The Road It Takes Away", a driving and liberating closing, perfectly recreating the energy and sound of the albums with the Band, and in one of the most peculiar songs of the album, "What Work Is", almost entirely recited by the deep and expressive voice of a Russell in the role of a writer/storyteller poet, based on experiences of work, life and tormented loves, an emotional tension discharged into a powerful, intense, and cathartic refrain, and then in the only, brief but vibrant guitar solo of the album.

After an adventurous life as a wanderer without a fixed home, Tom Russell found in the city of El Paso not only a source of inspiration but also a place to settle down for good, an adoptive homeland, and this is clearly felt in the inspiration, the involvement that infuses "Borderland," an absolutely perfect album, managing to sound varied and at times surprising despite a precise environmental context that for many others could have been limiting; beautiful voice, absolute absence of declines in tension and filler tracks, from which, alas, subsequent albums won't be immune, wonderful songs, all of them, among which stand out "A Touch Of Evil", "The Santa Fe At Midnight", "The Hills Of Old Juarez", "What Work Is" and "The Road It Gives And The Road It Takes Away" all deserve five full stars.