Tom Russell: Flecked in the type of grit that you can only pick up in US heartland

TOM Russell was recently thrilled to receive a package in the post from his old friend, Bob Dylan. Dylan had his people send his fellow songwriter a case of his new Heaven’s Door whiskey. Wrapped around the bottles were the lyrics to ‘Blowin’ In The Wind’, stylised so that it seemed Dylan had himself scribbled all over the printed words with a pen.

“I have a tremendous amount of respect for Dylan’s journey,” says Russell, a troubadour whose music is, as with Dylan’s, flecked in the grit of the American heartland. “But that journey is not mine. You have to create your own way.”