The Long Way Around
country americana Alt-country political male vocalists
The storied Homestead Works in Homestead PA is the site of a famous dramatic labor clash in the 1890's, 'The Battle of Homestead' pitting the locked-out and disgruntled workers against hundreds of armed toughs from the Pinkerton National Detective Agency hired by Henry Clay Frick, manager of the works owned by Andrew Carnegie. In 1901 the works became part of U.S. Steel and grew in importance and it was claimed that this was the largest and most profitable steel mill in the world. Read more on Last.fm.

Tom Russell (born in Los Angeles in either 1947 or 1948) is an American singer-songwriter from California, currently living in El Paso, Texas. His music incorporates elements of folk, traditional country & western, border and cowboy music of the American West. Russell's songs have been recorded by artists such as Johnny Cash, Ian Tyson, Nanci Griffith, Dave Alvin and others. In addition to his music, he is also an artist and published author. In the 1980s Russell made four albums credited to the Tom Russell Band. These featured Andrew Hardin and accordionist Fats Kaplin. In the 1990s Russell made a number of solo albums, collaborated with blues singer Barrence Whitfield on two albums, and also recorded an acoustic album mixing original material with his favorite cowboy-themed songs. His albums include several guest appearances from other folk, country, and Americana artists, such as Chris Gaffney and Dave Alvin. His song "Outbound Plane", co-written with Nanci Griffith, became a Top Ten country hit for Suzy Bogguss. His most significant album from this period is the 1999 folk opera, The Man From God Knows Where. His more recent albums include "Blood and Candle Smoke" (2009) and "Mesabi" (2011). Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.