Tonight We Ride
I arrived at my company provided accommodation in the winter of 2007 and with a bank of low cloud in the South I searched, and found a music store a few minutes down the road from me Man, I miss those old music stores! Mystical places where unknown musical treasures could be hidden in one of those many shelves of records, CDs and music magazines like MOJO and Uncut. Long haired teenagers in Rock & Roll T-Shirts roaming the aisles to assist and advise customers on acquiring their next record or special, limited edition artist merchandise. I miss the distinct smell of record wrapping plastic and old cigarette smoke in the carpets and curtains.
While rummaging through the famous “ bargain bin”, a basket full of odds and ends and final resting place for many unsold or really out there albums, I stumbled upon Indians, Cowboys, Horses, Dogs by Tom Russell. It had a glossy paper sleeve and the artwork on the front and back was remarkable. I later, while pouring over the liner notes found out that Tom did most of the album art himself. I bought it on the spot having never heard any of his music and with soft, steady snow coming down on the grey city I made my way to the car with a soon to be discovered masterpiece of artistic expression and genius in a bright yellow Look & Listen bag. This incredible album would remain in my car or my downloaded playlists for the next eighteen years and you will still find it in my collection, even today.
Thinking back on the last eighteen years I have yet to find another masterclass in songwriting, musicianship and storytelling prowess that comes even close. Tom’s stories about a heartbroken rodeo cowboy “ long past high noon” rhyming it artfully with “ Bucking Horse Moon” just still rips my heart out. There are stories of poets, the conservationist Edward Abbey, the war hero Ira Hayes, Outlaws, Native Americans and even a tender lullaby named “ Little Blue Horse”. “ Lullabies are the mysteries of dreams” Come on !!! I think even Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen had to sit up straight and pay attention when they heard this album. Tom’s guitar picking style heavily influenced my playing and the songwriting still makes me aim higher and humbles me more often than not. I once sent Tom a message on Facebook and he replied !! I was filled with excitement and appreciation that one of my heroes would take the time to reply. What a trip ! Tom has released many excellent albums in his career, not to mention his exceptional paintings and books. I track the records down like nuggets of creative gold.
The empathy and honesty in the songs reminds the listener of similar times when he or she perhaps also got into some trouble on the road, played a bad gig in some one horse town or watched the dust rise off the back of a bucking bull. Real stories about real people written for folks who still delve into songs hoping to find meaning in their own lives. No other song has stayed in my setlist and made for more singalongs, smiles and great guitar solos than Tonight We Ride. It is a rollicking cowboy ballad that captures the spirit of the American West, blending historical events with a rugged outlaw mentality from Poncho Villa to the whorehouses of Durango. The song might push some buttons with questions like “ and if we drink ourselves to death, ain’t that the cowboy way to go ? “ but for the most part it sends the audience and the band home, night after night, with a satisfied smile and maybe a slight longing for the outlaw days gone by. Days before society became a city bound species of domesticated animals. Tom is the patron saint of the traveling troubadours.
Now, the days of Pancho Villa and Edward Abbey, East Texas Red and Ira Hayes are long gone. The days of aimlessly flipping through a stack of records in a tiny hole in the wall are severely numbered but you can rest assured that when you attend a show by my band or just a solo campfire performance, you will shed a tear with the pregnant woman who had just lost her husband at the rodeo when I play “ All this way for the short ride “ and you will smile, raise your glass and throw back a shot of “ Reposado Gold “ when Tonight We Ride come jangling from my guitar strings.
Thank you for the inspiration Tom.
JB