Tom Russell Rides Again

Tom Russell rides again — and this time he’s carrying eight new stories in his saddlebag. Mount Olive, released November 8 on Frontera Records, is lean, lyrical, and loaded with the kind of truth only a lifetime on the road can teach.

He’s been on my radar as a songwriter, author, and painter for many moons. I’ve always said the man’s a genius in his field — a storyteller who can take a barroom, a border town, or a broken heart and make it sound like scripture whispered through a cracked radio.

These new songs — “1946 Martin D-18,” “Where the Cows Turn Their Backs to the Wind,” “Kindred Spirits (The Choctaw Song)” — are proof that Russell still writes with a brush dipped in dust and blood. The title track “Mount Olive” feels like a hymn to endurance, while “I Grew Up on Western Movies” tips the brim to the myths that shaped every dreamer who ever looked west.

There’s no flash here, no over-polish — just the gravel of his voice, the wisdom of his pen, and the kind of melodies that hang in the air like smoke over a campfire.

If you’ve ever chased a story across a two-lane highway, or felt the pull of the wide open, this one’s for you.

Tom Russell rides again — and the trail sounds mighty fine.

Pancho’s Picks: Colter Wall – “Back to Me”

There’s a reason Colter Wall’s name still echoes off every canyon wall between Balmoreah and the Canadian border . The man don’t just sing — he summons. His new one, “Back to Me,” proves the prairie’s still got poetry, and that nostalgia don’t come clean — it comes with dust on its boots and a whiskey scar on its heart.

Colter’s always lived in that space between heaven and a honky-tonk — the sacred and the profane, the halo and the hangover. Just like his heroes before.. Real cowboys like Ian Tyson and Tom Russell.

“Back to Me” rides that fence line like a top hand with something to prove. There’s longing in it, sure, but it’s laced with the kind of dirt that sticks under your fingernails when you’ve buried too many memories and dug up too few second chances.

That line — “like the songs my mama used to sing” — it ain’t nostalgia for show. It’s bloodline truth. You can smell the percolator, hear the screen door slap, and feel that voice that used your middle name only when she was angry. That’s the kind of country Colter deals in — hand-stitched, barbed-wired, and unafraid to bleed a little for the story.

His voice still drips with weariness and willpower both. He ain’t beggin’ nobody back. He’s just starin’ down the wind and singin’ what’s left after the storm takes the easy parts.

So if you want a song that’ll drag you through your own ghosts and make you grateful for ‘em, spin Back to Me.

It ain’t polished. It’s pure.

And it damn sure ain’t Nashville.

Danced All Night Long

I’m still uncertain if William Beckmann is channeling an old Marty Robbins ballad, or if he’s reminiscing George Strait’s, “Blame it on Mexico.”

I have personally spent some time down in Via Acuna at the Bar Crosby. I have chased gals down the street to that old Corona Club, the first place I saw Robert Keen pick out his song, “Gringo Honeymoon.” And, I may have made a trip or three up that hill just to see “the girl who loves a horse,” just like Charlie Robison did on “New Years Day.”

I love songs about Mexico. I guess I always have. Crossing that border used to feel like traveling back into another time. It’s the only time travel I have ever experienced in my lifetime. The great Tom Russell also has written several tales about this great escape, my mind goes back to a time “When Sinatra Played Juarez.”

William Beckmann gave me a new experience in time travel as his song hit my release radar today. It is a song that brought me back to those early days in my love for music. It is said, One song can bring back a thousand memories. Here’s to you Mr. Beckmann for doing that for me- back to a time when I could shoot Tequila with the best of them. As for me today those Mexican Fancy Topo Chicos are doing the trick.

Acuna, Coahuila was beautiful and this song is a beautiful tribute to the days gone by.

Pancho.

All for the love of a Cowboy

Ian Tyson definitely rates high on my list of the greatest songwriters to ever live. To Ian’s pen fell many cowboy songs. The Canadian cowboy, Tyson, is best known for his songs “Four Strong Winds” and “Someday Soon.”

“Someday Soon” and my personal favorite by Ian Tyson, “Navajo Rug,” rank in the top 100 Western Songs of all Time, by the Western Writers of America.

Tom Russell, Jerry Jeff Walker and so many more artists have covered Tyson’s music through the years. Corb Lund has just released the latest cover of one of Ian’s tunes. “Montana Waltz”

Lund’s latest album Songs My Friends Wrote is set to release in April. The album also will contain Corb’s versions of songs written by artists like Hayes Carll and Tom Russell.

Corb Lund’s tribute to his fellow cowboy songwriters is certainly going to be epic..

All for the love of a cowboy-

Pancho.

Pub Songs

I have always loved a good Irish drink song. One of the greatest living song writers, Tom Russell has several of these ballads to his name. The most memorable in my generation and in the Red Dirt genre was when Reckless Kelly did 7 Nights in Eire.

This morning I discovered a new one, from the desolate state of Wyoming , Chancey Williams brings us a new tune with , “On the Tear Tonight.”

On the Tear Tonight was written by Chancey and Trent Willmon. Willmon also produced the single. Willmon has also produced songs for Cody Johnson.

Chancey Williams is a talented musician who grew up in northeastern Wyoming. A cowboy first and a rodeo cowboy. Along with Chris Ledoux, Williams is one of the few who can say he both performed and played the famed Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo.

Pancho.