Live Review

Josh T Pearson – Stereo, Glasgow

• 26th Mar 2011

It is ten years or so since Josh T Pearson last played a show in Glasgow.

Memories of that long ago night at King Tut’s with his short-lived band Lift to Experience remain, but little has been heard of the Texan since. Now he is back with a new solo album and a very different sound, but the welcome is as warm and the musical quality just as high.

Pearson was supported by Richard Warren. The British guitarist has played in several bands over the years, and once famously asked to join Oasis. Now he is touring as a solo artist.

Warren opened his set with a lengthy instrumental piece on electric guitar that meandered along without ever actually going anywhere. He then switched to an acoustic for several country tinged songs that seemed very repetitive lyrically. And the background noise from the crowd increased steadily throughout his set; never a good sign for an opening act.

Josh T Pearson cut an imposing figure on the small stage. Tall and bearded, dressed all in black, he stood before the mic stand tuning up looking like an old style preacher man. Then a quick hello and the first of many self-deprecating remarks (“Hope your ten years has been better than mine”) and he starts to play.

Pearson opened with a slow, almost gospel version of Rivers of Babylon, sung with a voice that is as powerful as ever over soft finger picking guitar. And then he wss straight into his own music with Sweetheart I Ain’t Your Christ.

The acclaimed solo album Last Of The Country Gentlemen is stark and bleak, a collection of tales of heartache told as some form of catharsis. And Pearson’s live performance has exactly the same air. His voice falls at times to no more than a whisper, almost inaudible over the guitar. It feels almost like being at a therapy session, so personal is the content of the songs.

Between songs Pearson attempts to lighten the mood with a series of jokes and one liners. The contrast with his music is clear, and it is as if he realises that the audience needs an interlude every now and then.

The tracks he plays are long. Sorry With A Song is introduced as the short version: the eight minute one, not the twelve minute one. But when he starts to sing there is a perfect silence in the room.

The set closes with Country Dumb, Pearson’s slow delivery in that Texan drawl taking it from a country song to a dark and almost sinister place where he pleads for forgiveness and redemption.

Unfortunately the set was cut short due to a curfew in the venue. The capacity crowd hung on Pearson’s every word all night, living the tales with him as he laid himself bare before them. It was a majestic performance, emotionally draining and with an understated power that shows you don’t need to play loud to impact on your audience.

Hopefully it will be a lot less than ten years before Josh T Pearson’s next visit.