He began his musical career in the early 1970s in Vancouver, British Columbia, playing strip bars along Skid Row, then later relocated to Texas and formed a band with singer-pianist Patricia Hardin. In 1975, the duo won the Kerrville Folk Festival New Folk Singer-Songwriter Contest.
In 1977, the duo moved to San Francisco, performing regularly in clubs there as Hardin & Russell, during which time they recorded the second of their two studio albums. They eventually split in 1979, at which point
Russell drifted out of the music industry for a year. It was during this hiatus that Russell wrote his classic song “Gallo Del Cielo”. Both Hardin & Russell’s albums (Ring of Bone and Wax Museum) received high critical acclaim, and the first was reviewed in Rolling Stone by Chet Flippo.
During this period Russell was also the winner of the first Woody Guthrie – William Oliver Award for songwriting, as well as the professional country category in the first American Song Festival.
Russell moved to New York City in 1980 and while working as a taxi driver in Queens, he met guitarist Andrew Hardin (no relation to Patricia). After hearing his songs, Hardin convinced him that they should form a new band. Shortly afterward, Robert Hunter of the Grateful Dead was a passenger in Russell’s cab; Russell sang Hunter his song “Gallo Del Cielo” and an impressed Hunter invited Russell to join him on stage at New York’s Bitter End.
Hunter encouraged Russell to make a full-fledged return to the music business and Russell later opened for Hunter the Lone Star Cafe. Hunter sang Russell’s “Gallo Del Cielo” at the Glastonbury Festival in the UK.
Andrew Hardin remained Russell’s full-time sideman until April 2006. “Gallo del Cielo” became one of Russell’s most fabled songs and has been recorded by Ian Tyson, Joe Ely, Brian Burns, Jason Boland and the Stragglers, and Katie Lee. The song has been cited as a favorite by Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen (as noted in Clarence Clemons’ book Big Man.)
