It was a pretty crappy day and night overall, raining non-stop. After a slight detour to Slacker's to kill some time(and a couple of bought cds), I made it to Mojo's a little after 7 and the show didn't start for an hour, but it took a little while to keep warmed up. I'd never been to Mojo's before, the nickname of being a "little sister" to the Blue Note is pretty accurate. It's even more confined and less space and sort of off the beaten path on the very northern edge of the downtown business district and bordering residential areas. I'm not knocking the venue, but for an artist of Tom Russell's caliber and stature(Grammy winner?) he should have at least been at the Blue Note or Jesse Auditorium or the Missouri Theater...
It made for an "intimate" show though. Heck there's no backstage and the performers came up from behind the audience, which was made of mostly over 40 people with a few gray beards. There was one kid, I saw was a minor without the Bud wristband, with his dad, so I wasn't the youngest person there, minus the staff...
Now, I thought about it there were a few more younger people in the back.
But on to the show, it was a great show. He didn't play the two songs I was most familiar with Gallo del Cielo or Navajo Rug, but I had bought his latest album "Blood and Candle Smoke," and listened to it a couple of times. He ended up playing every song off of the album throughout the evening. He played around two hours with a ten minute intermission. Here's the set list from my memory the order on the songs are probably jumbled
- East of Woodstock, West of Viet Nam
- Mississippi River Runnin Backwards
- Nina Simone
- Guadalupe
- Criminology
- Darkness Visible
- Stealing Electricity
- Finding You
- Who's Gonna Build Your Wall
- Don't Look Down
- Santa Ana Wind
- Crosses of San Carlos
- The Most Dangerous Woman in America
- American Rivers
- a spoken poem by Charles Bukowski /poem> That's What Work Is/a story about Dave Van Ronk >Orphan Train
- Blue Wing
- Tower of Song>Pugilist at 59
Throughout the night he was loose and enjoying himself, having fun with the crowd. A guy was taking some pictures and he didn't mind, "Do what you need to do," he said. He then joked that they needed security, but after earlier conversations with the staff found out they were sons of hippies, who wouldn't hit anybody...There were at least another dozen moments of hilarity...He also appeared on the Letterman show the night of the infamous sex confession or whatever. And he joked that that he was proud he was responsible for the ratings jump...He was also chiding the audience and others, by saying "Bastards!" frequently.
And he knew the area pretty well, mentioning his next tour stops in K.C., St. Louis and in Mt. Olive, Illinois and mentioning that he was going to be on 88.1 KDHX , a public radio station out of St. Louis. I know my old man always listens to it on Saturday morning/afternoon when he goes to St. Louis, when they are playing acoustic hour, bluegrass, and true country among various things. I know my dad said, Russell appeared as a guest on there last year...
His guitar player, Thad Beckman, was awesome, playing lead parts and some great fills. On the lengthier sorta jam later in the set, he played some hot guitar in various styles such as Doc Watson, Mississippi John Hurt and someone else. Russell, even chided him that it made up for a few of the earlier mistakes.
To me, Tom Russell, in addition to an uncanny songwriting ability, has one of those great recognizable unique voices, like Van Morrison or Joe Cocker. Just a well played and enjoyed show. After it was over he went to the merchandising area and was signing items for people, still in very cheery spirits and thanking people for coming. I bought one of his cds Love and Fear (cheaper than the record store even) and had him autograph it.
Anyone reading this, I highly recommend listening to some of his work and seeing him in concert, even if he doesn't play his "cowboy" songs as much anymore.
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