This came out in 2004 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
I sometimes find it hard to believe Tom Russell makes his albums in the studio.
It’s not that they sound technically inferior; it’s that his music is so authentically rustic it always sounds as if it’s being played by a campfire out on the moonlit prairie. Not surprisingly, that is where he’s coming from again on his umpteenth CD Indians Cowboys Horses Dogs. Caressing his guitar like an old friend and vocalizing in smoky tones, a relaxed Russell spins tall tales and tragic odes to his titular subjects, with lotsa love, death, revenge and heartbreak tossed in for good measure. A couple of Tex-Mex tunes — including an accordion-laced take on Marty Robbins‘ El Paso — venture south of the border, but Russell never strays too far off his dusty trail, even when he’s covering Bob Dylan’s Seven Curses or Johnny Cash’s The Ballad of Ira Hayes. The only thing missing is a campfire.
