Poor Man's Dream (1991)

On his second album, Poor Man's Dream, folk- and country-rocker Tom Russell continues to craft solid, original story-songs out of American folk traditions. Singing in a rugged, vagabond voice that occasionally seems choked with trail dust, he chronicles the deferred dreams of common people, usually caught in a trap of their own making. Russell hits his stride with stark and chilling songs of irony, such as the Steve Earle-like ''Veteran's Day,'' a Vietnam War song with a bitter twist, and ''Bergenfield,'' a wake-up call for a community puzzled by its numerous teen suicides. Potent stuff. A-