Tom Russell may be one of the American singer/songwriter establishment, but he could never be accused of resting on his laurels, and on this new album ‘Blood and Candle Smoke’ he’s proved that continual artistic development has paid off as it’s his best album in the past ten years, and arguably his best of all.
Russell is the consummate American storyteller, he obviously loves the stories, atmosphere and attitudes of the whole Western American experience, and his tightly constructed songs read like a panoramic, wide-screen view of the landscape and people of these open-spaces and border towns.
What makes this album stand out is that he’s teamed up with members of indie band Calexico, and the combination of the contemporary spark of these musicians and Russell’s experience and songwriting has created a compelling and masterful collection.
The album starts with ‘East of Woodstock, West of Vietnam’ and the quality of the songwriting, arrangements and especially Russell’s vocals which are as good as they’ve ever been, never let up over the course of the 12 songs and an hour’s worth of music.
As well as the musicians from Calexico providing much of the backing, he’s joined by Gretchen Peters on almost every song who adds some beautiful backing and harmony vocals throughout.
Every listen to the disc will uncover something you’ve previously missed and reveal a new favourite song from the fantastic Nigerian guitar on ‘Criminology’ (a presumably autobiographical account of elements of this career before becoming a full-time singer/songwriter), through to ‘The Most Dangerous Woman in the World’ a dark and brooding song inspired by Springsteen’s ‘Nebraska’.
Undoubtedly a fine singer/songwriter, this album is his most accessible and full of fantastic arrangements of his work – the quality of this whole album is superb and it’s going to end up as one of the albums of the year.  Unmissable.

Track listing
1 East Of Woodstock, West Of Viet Nam
2 Santa Ana Wind
3 Nina Simone
4 Criminology
5 Crosses Of San Carlos
6 Finding You
7 Mississippi River Runnin' Backwards
8 The Most Dangerous Woman In America
9 Don't Look Down
10 Guadalupe
11 American Rivers
12 Darkness Visible

£12.99