overlap

What a difference a day makes - tuesday evening I'm enjoying beautiful sunlit views out across the Severn estuary, wednesday evening I'm struggling to keep up to 50mph on the same bridge, and worrying whether the gusts of wind blowing rain into my car's engine are going to make it cut out completely. Last night I saw Tom Russell, someone I knew more by reputation than by firsthand acquaintance with hs music. And while this week's festival of Dylanology has briefly pushed the history of folk back towards the front of the public consciousness, it's a great time to be reminded that folk n country n Americana, however you want to pigeonhole it, is still alive and kicking. Russell's new album 'Hotwalker' and either of Nanci Griffith's 'Other Voices, Other Rooms' albums is a great place to start, if you want a broad introduction without going to Alan Lomax levels of effort. Although you've missed seeing Tom Russell on this particular UK tour, unless you can get to Devon in time for this evening's show! You can easily find out more about Tom Russell but be warned he has one of those annoying flash websites, so don't be surprised that it comes with sound, resizes your browser window and generally is a pain...