Veteran songwriter Tom Russell brings his brand of country and cowboy to Galway

Veteran American singer songwriter Tom Russell plays upstairs in Kelly’s, Bridge Street on Friday, January 27.

The songs of this country/folk/cowboy writer have been recorded by such icons as Johnny Cash, Dave Van Ronk, Jerry Jeff Walker, Doug Sahm, Joe Ely, Nanci Griffith, Iris DeMent, and Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, among others.

American Beat poet and liberal activist, Lawrence Ferlinghetti has described how he feels “a great affinity with Tom Russell’s songs, for he is writing out of the wounded heart of America”.

For Russell’s 26th album Mesabi, he invited along several prominent friends to assist him, among them Lucinda Williams, Van Dyke Parks, Calexico, the band with which Russell previously collaborated on his previous album, Blood and Candle Smoke.

“My career seems to have gone in the opposite direction from a lot of people whose notoriety came over their first half dozen records,”Russell has observed. “Mine didn’t. My career built very slowly, and then I moved to El Paso in 1997, further outside than anybody could imagine. By not plugging into the machine, the records I’ve made in the past 10 years have been my strongest and most outside records, especially the past two. It seems that the older I get, the more I’ve been able to keep on the outside.”

Tom Russell has appeared on the David Letterman TV show five times in recent years and his songs have appeared in a dozen movies and television series.

Fans of heart-worn Americana will find much to enjoy at this show. Doors at 8pm, tickets €15.