Calvin RussellRebel Radio (Free Falls)
Back in the mid-Nineties, Calvin Russell had a video on the Austin Music Network that could frighten small children. The only man craggy enough to play him in the movies would be that guy from the Ford pickup commercials, or maybe Sam Elliott. From the sounds of Rebel Radio, it seems that the famously reclusive Russell is easing out of his shell a bit, even though when he sings “The night came undone like a party dress” on “Barroom Girls,” he just sounds like a dirty old man. Conveniently, the album is also a chance for seasoned players like Stephen Bruton, Lloyd Maines, Freddie Krc, and Riley Osbourne to sink their chops into choice songwriting from Townes Van Zandt, Willie Nelson, Gillian Welch & David Rawlings, Kimmie Rhodes, and a spirited shuffle through the Stones’ “No Expectations.” Russell’s “Country Boy” is a standard Billy Joe Shaver-style sing-along, but the grim, authoritative gravitas he lends Nelson’s already bleak “I Never Cared For You” causes Cash-like shudders. “Wild Roses,” a gorgeous Russell & Rhodes duet, rates a half star all by itself, and intentional or not, “Freight Train Blues” is one of the best ZZ Top tributes ever. Rebel Radio takes a few songs to tune in properly, but by the time Russell rhapsodizes about his “flat black Ford” on Welch & Rawlings’ “Pass You By,” Austin’s invisible outlaw has raised his profile enough to where he might soon be chasing those “Barroom Girls” with Robert Duvall.
This article appears in January 24 • 2003.