Album Review: Josh T Pearson - Last of the Country Gentlemen

For anyone with fond memories of Lift to Experience and their unhinged quasi-religious concept album The Texas Jeruasalem Crossroads from way back in 2001, this comeback should come as good, if surprising news. If that album was slightly better in theory than in practice, that was only because the theory was so great – the record appeared to be about some sort of apocalyptic vision the band had witnessed, foretelling the end of the world (or the end of Texas at least). Sure, it dragged on a bit, but on highlights such as ‘Falling From Cloud 9’ and the barmy, deadpan opening spoken word section, it was clear that - whatever the (good ole’) boys were smoking - it was certainly working.

Self-destructive singer and songwriter Josh T Pearson was long presumed to have disappeared from public altogether amid some pretty heavy drink and drug issues, but here he returns ten years later with a much belated solo debut. So is it cause to rejoice? Well, not really. This is undoubtedly a cathartic work for Pearson, and it’s clear from the get-go that he has demons to exhume. Titles like ‘Sweetheart I Ain’t Your Christ’ and ‘Woman When I’ve Raised Hell’ are no red herrings - this is serious, weighty stuff.  While it may be therapeutic for him, it makes for hard work for us.  The proggy guitars of Lift to Exerience have been jettisoned in favour of minimal acoustic scrabbling, and Pearson’s delivery, so laconic on The Texas Jeruasalem Crossroads, has taken on a warbly quality that is very much an acquired taste. Whether it’s worth acquiring is debateable.

The song structures and melodies are loose, at times formless, and the recordings have an improvised, unfinished feel. Neither of these would be problem in themselves if the running times didn’t run to such absurd lengths. Four of these seven tracks run over ten minutes, and not one justifies its epic length with sufficient variety or dynamism. Put simply, Pearson needs to learn when to stop. Many a great album has been made along the “My Booze Hell” narrative (witness John Grant’s 2010 sleeper hit Queen of Denmark), but sadly, this isn’t one of them.