Tom Russell
Indians Cowboys Horses Dogs

Tom Russell is a tenacious workhorse of folk music: just a year after an album like "Modern Art," which was overall mediocre and confusing, he already has a redemption album ready, moreover conceived in the same vein as its less fortunate predecessor. Indeed, like "Modern Art," "Indians Cowboys Horses Dogs" from 2004 is a mix of originals and covers, and it finds its strength in what was MA's most evident flaw; namely, it is an album characterized by a strong identity, with a precise, well-defined musical and thematic style. "Indians Cowboys Horses Dogs" is a journey into the sounds of the old west, but it's not a brilliant, electric album with sometimes epic tones like "Borderland" from 2001: this record sounds much drier, primarily acoustic and dominated by ballads enveloped in an aura of melancholy, and Tom Russell's magnificent voice fits perfectly into this particular context, sounding more grave and mournful, as if steeped in whiskey.

The originals on "Indians Cowboys Horses Dogs" are just four, all of great quality, and they represent the core, the most tortured and profound soul of the album, from the opening "Tonight We Ride" which, after an illusory grandiose attack, immediately reveals its nature, where Tex-Mex suggestions blend with a sorrowful yet compelling melancholy to the concluding "Little Blue Horse", a sweet lullaby accompanied only by a subdued acoustic guitar, passing through "All This Way For The Short Ride", bitter and essential, somewhat the symbol of the entire album, and "Bucking Horse Moon", a melancholic western serenade in which Tom Russell's voice almost soaks with tears. The remaining eight songs are covers of other artists, which in "Modern Art" were unnecessary weights but here are perfectly functional to the context, all well-chosen and masterfully reinterpreted; above all "El Paso", the signature song of the pioneer of modern western music, Marty Robbins, which becomes more lively and realistic, less "glossy" and cinematic thanks to Russell's heartfelt interpretation, without however altering an immortal and legendary melody. The rural, acoustic, and sorrowful atmospheres typical of this album emerge forcefully in a heart-wrenching ballad like "No Telling" by Linda Thompson and in the fascinating "East Texas Red" by the small father of American folk music, Woody Guthrie.

"The Ballad Of Ira Hayes" by the unfortunate Peter La Farge is a moving tribute to Native American culture and pride, recited with the aid of only an acoustic guitar, a simple accompaniment for Tom Russell's deep and emotional voice that manages to forego singing without losing its communicative power. Bob Dylan is honored with not one but two covers: one is a real gem, the unknown "Seven Curses", a dusty western song laden with tension and accompanied by subdued guitar phrasing, which seems expressly written to be part of an album like this, the other is a great classic: "Lily, Rosemary And The Jack Of Hearts", enriched by the presence of the gritty folksinger Eliza Gilkinson and country rocker Joe Ely, who share the stage with Tom Russell in a powerful performance, musically more direct and essential than the original but particularly epic, rhythmic, and engaging, also thanks to the three voices that alternate in a crescendo excellently supported by the sound of an organ that accompanies and outlines the melody.

Summing up, the critical judgment for "Indians Cowboys Horses Dogs" can only be positive: it is an excellent album, slightly inferior to Tom Russell's great masterpieces but well-produced, thought out, and meticulously crafted; it is an emotional, mournful, and intense album, not for every day, and it fully achieves the purpose the artist set out, managing to evoke with credibility and emotional participation a fascinating world now part of the past, almost mythic without making it a stale and static effort, proving to be far superior to the more modern and pretentious "Modern Art" and showcasing a rediscovered Tom Russell in clear recovery, who would surpass himself again within two years with an album of the caliber of "Love And Fear."