Tom Russell: The Rose of Roscrae | Album Review

This sprawling behemoth of a double album – 52 tracks in all – begins in an Irish setting, the Roscrae of the title track, before taking flight to a fevered American west in the late 19th century.

It is, says Tom Russell, “the first frontier musical written in the west, by a westerner, using hardcore western lingo, and original and traditional songs. Twenty years in the making, concept to completion.”

The spine of the project, which completes Russell’s Americana trilogy, is his colourful narratives of lives lived on the edge in a changing world.

But this celebrated songwriter, painter and writer also uses found material, a stellar list of other singers (including a stirring Maura O'Connell), and other singers' songs, such as Guy Clark's Desperados Waiting for a Train.

It’s a mash-up, but one that has admirable ambition and great charm.