Russ Tolman you may recall from his time in the Paisley Underground associated band True West, or his later solo work. Today’s new tune touched on both of those possibilities, as Streets Of Denim is taken from Tolman’s latest album Stray, which features such notable names as Tom Heyman on guitar and pedal steel, adding just the right measure of ache and atmosphere. Mike Coykendall on drums while San Francisco journeyman Rusty Miller fills out the picture on bass, piano and harmonies. And, additionally, Streets Of Denim is a co-write with Tolman’s long time friend Steve Wynn of Paisley Underground stalwarts The Dream Syndicate (as well as so much else). Not the only co-write on the album, incidentally, as other songs are shared with R&B songwriter Arthur Alexander and k.d. lang. Eclectic, no?
Streets Of Denim has a reflective tone, mulling over the passage of years and the unexpected final separations that this can lead to, poignantly singing “a boarding pass and a backwards glance / I didn’t think it’d be the last time / It turned out to be the last time.”
Stray is out on LP and CD on the 18th of September. And, as an aside, Steve Wynn will be appearing at Americana 25 this November – all the details of that are here. Whisper it quietly but it’s going to be something of a mini-Paisley Underground fest as well with Chuck Prophet also appearing.
