Fall Arts from A to Z
A primer to the season's best bets.
BLOOD AND CANDLE SMOKE. Or, your new favorite album. Almost four decades into his career, songwriter Tom Russell, whose tunes were covered by Johnny Cash, sings about life in a sentient Grand Ole Opry–atic rumble that’s the auditory equivalent of the crow’s feet around an old cowboy’s eyes. Blood pours out brooding, battered songs recorded in the same Tucson studio that produced Tex-Mex rock band Calexico (members of which perform on the album). The melodies seem to waft out of some south-of-the-border honky-tonk, while the lyrics cut deep to convey either Russell’s own experiences (he spent time teaching in Africa, which is “East of Woodstock, West of Vietnam”) or the ardently imagined tales of American underdogs (two modern-day Apaches go for a drive in “Crosses of San Carlos”). Hearing Russell live, you’ll sense the ghosts of Cash and troubadours like Marty Robbins hovering happily. December 16, Tractor Tavern, 206-789-3599; tractortavern.com
Behind the scenes of the making of Blood and Candle Smoke:
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Published: September 2009
Look at his beautiful eye….wink