This is probably the single most requested item in the history of our store: a songbook from Tom Russell.  Tom takes it a step further by including short essays and anecdotes about the songs and their origins.  Even if you've never picked up an instrument you will find plenty to enjoy here.  It's been an extraordinary career, that is still going strong, and the stories behind these songs are as interesting, and enticing, as the songs themselves.  Have your stacks of Tom Russell discs handy to use as a soundtrack as you wind your way through over three hundred pages of songs, stories, art and essays.

Tom Says:

“I’ve been working on this songbook idea for a few years (with compiling help from Peter O’Brien and Steve Toner.)  Bangtail Press is publishing. There are 120 songs included, with guitar chords and stories about each song. I included some of my original woodcuts. I also wrote an opening essay about my years in the song business, and my early run-in’s with Bob Dylan and the Beatles – and co-writing with folks like Ian Tyson, Dave Alvin, Bob Neuwirth, and Katy Moffatt and others. There are also some rare lyrics included. I think folks will like it…it’s not just a songbook, it’s a chunk of my life the last forty years…in rhyme, essay, and art. A rhyming biography of sorts….something for the bedside table, perhaps. Good Christmas gift? Hope so! TR”