Tom Russell is a master storyteller and Mesabi, his new release for Shout! Factory , corrals some of the acclaimed singer-songwriter’s most compelling tales to date. A thread runs through its songs, a zigzagging but determinedly solid line that connects the perilous bordertown of Juarez, Mexico to the real and faux glitz of L.A. and the bleak iron range of Minnesota-the Mesabi of the album’s title.