It's all folk music. You ever hear a horse play music? [Doc Watson]
Albums to download or play online
- Jim Russell / Friends For Good (in progress)
- The Remainders / Some Guys Bowl: An Anthology
- Antrim Studios / The Basement Disks
Antrim Studios
Antrim Studios is my home recording setup, where I make pop recordings that I distribute over the net. At one point, during the initial heyday of mp3.com, I used that as the band name for my releases, but I've given that up and just use my own name now. As Antrim Studios, I got a nice review from Rolling Stone's website, but they inexplicably compared my Squeeze-influenced song Strange platonic thing to Howard Jones.
All the songs are offered free for the downloading, in accordance with the Free Music Philosophy.
I used to be in a real band. I was the bassist for The Remainders, a New Jersey bar band in the 1980's. We did some good, original, Power Pop Rock And Roll Guitar Band Music. We were all, however, quite successful at our Day Jobs, and eventually disbanded.
While we were going strong, I was learning to produce low-budget recordings on 4-track cassette. I was also becoming a computer expert (that was my Day Job). These days, my music studio and computer workstation have merged into a vast conglomerate that my wife calls "the mess in the cellar".
Two of the other Remainders have a strong presence here at Antrim.
Some of the Antrim Studios releases should have been credited to Bill Greenrose, songwriter, singer and guitarist. Bill and I have known each other since we were 5 years old (that's a long time), and we've been playing guitars and singing songs together for most of our lives. Even though he lives in New Hampshire and I live in New Jersey, he's still my karmic twin (Don't ask me to explain, it'll just scare you).
My songwriting partner for the past fourteen years is another former Remainder, master lyricist Jim Moore. When we were in high gear, we were pumping out songs at a rate of three or four a week, so I've got quite a catalog to choose from for future productions. Our virtual publishing company, Meridian Stone Music, is so-named as a bit of wordplay on Twelve O'Clock Rock, an early, discarded name for the Remainders.
As for the rest of the old band: My brother Jerry Russell, the other half of the Russell Bros. Rhythm Section, whom I've known even longer than Bill, has become a bit of a gypsy, but is for the time being back here in New Jersey. I'm trying to convince my wife that it would be a good idea to set up his drums here in our cellar. "Good luck with that" was my brother's reaction. And Chris Wilson, equally at home with an acoustic piano or a guitar with the amp turned up to eleven, is now happily playing for Westbound, a band playing gigs down the shore, near his home in Bricktown.
World Wide Wadio
I spent years trying to get my music onto the internet, and now it's scattered all over the place. The demise of the amateur aspect of mp3.com left me without a permanent repository. You can pick up some of the songs at www.myspace.com/jimrussell, which I just finished setting up. I've also got some tunes on archive.org, but still need to figure out that site's access.