Tom Russell (2) (1947–)

This collection of essays originally published in Ranch and Reata magazine just misses perfection. R&R editor Bill Reynolds, in his introduction, says “Through all of his stories I can’t remember changing anything…”

Which is really too bad, because – well, the thing is, Russell is *really good*. He has the ear of a poet and the heart of a snake-oil salesman, and when he’s really cooking, he can drag you out of your chair and wring you dry. But then he’ll make some careless show more misstep, like misspelling Roy Rogers’ name or using a close-but-no-cigar word like “providence” for “provenance” or leaving out a minor word that changes the meaning of the sentence, yanking the reader out of the rhythm like a thrown shoe in the middle of a dead run. The fine, strong bones in these 25 pieces deserve better treatment than that.

He’s writing here largely about the old *and* the new West – about the cowboys, poets, horses, drunks, and assorted characters who created and maintain the legend. As he tells it “the West is a land of ongoing reinvention, fashioned by artists, writers, showmen, flim-flammers, snake oil salesmen, range bums, saddle tramps, and outlaws who altered their personal histories and re-christened themselves with a more colorful handle.” Some of these characters will certainly be familiar to the 21st-century reader with even a passing interest in cowboy culture – Johnny Cash, Casey Tibbs, Buffalo Bill, Charley Russell, and Ramblin’ Jack Elliott. Others have piqued Russell’s unending curiosity about the mavericks and loners who maintain that life today – people like muleteer Ross Knox, falconer Steve Bodio, or tequila impresario Brian Kanof.

Most of the pieces run just a few pages – three to five thousand words, designed for placement in a special-interest print magazine. The temptation is to gobble them up all at once, but it’s an urge that is to be strongly curbed. These evocative, thoughtful, and frequently lyrical essays deserve to be savored, one at a time, perhaps with a glass of the good red wine Russell frequently cites, interspersed with time to think about what has been written and about the world he has recreated within these pages. show less

Underbar läsning för fans av Tom Russell och till viss del Charles Bukowski. Härligt blandning av brev, intervjuer, dikter och låttexter. Lite spretigt innehåll kanske.