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| Josh T. Pearson, "Last Of The Country Gentlemen" |
(Sotto per Italiano)
Podcast after the jump.
Out from the shadows of his home state of Texas or maybe it was Paris or Germany or just some friend's couch reappeared singer/songwriter/guitarist, Josh T. Pearson this year. He's been mostly absent from the music industry since the 2001 release "The Texas-Jerusalem Crossroads", by his former band Lift to Experience. Pearson was sorely missed by some and welcomed with open arms by the many who have come across his recent solo debut, "Last Of The Country Gentlemen". The album itself has drawn mass critical acclaim for its emotional intensity and
straightforward candor. The songs are often hauntingly filled with a depth of despair that is hard to ignore. To say the album could make a grown man cry is an understatement. Many might identify with his music but few could ever publicly express themselves as eloquently as he has.
"Last Of The Country Gentlemen" speaks of the purgatory of a relationship gasping its last shallow breaths of respect and sincerity before igniting itself into pure hell fury. Pearson's lyrical veracity combined with the rhythmic plucking of bare fingertips on acoustic guitar delivers an achingly beautiful sermon. It is in this style of the true American grit country songwriter that he bares his cross. His songs do touch on the subjects that most country singers tend to dwell on... Love, hopelessness, faith, regret, anger, sorrow and a nostalgia for better times. But Pearson's approach is different: It is not self-reflective pity he delivers, he is lyrically purging his despair to music and it works... Quite well, actually. This makes the album too unique to categorize him in that quintessential country standard. Though if the country music world were to embrace him they might be the better for it.
Josh T. Pearson preaches of repenting the only way he knows how, through introspective guilt. And that's part of what makes this album so brilliant. It is brutal honesty that doesn't work itself out. The listener is given an open invitation to meet and face all of his personal demons head on by his side. Some might cower or run the other way at the anguish and loss but for those that do walk across the fire with him they will come to see Pearson as an honest man who is purely seeking redemption and forgiveness... And that is the God's honest truth.
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| Live at Teatro Comunale, Ferrara, Italy |
Josh T. Pearson played at the exquisite Teatro Comunale in Ferrara, Italy on July 27th. The crowd feasted on every last word and note of his performance, demanding silence from the constant click and shutter of the photographers' cameras. Pearson was clearly in his element and his southern charm shined through as he joked with the audience, "I used to know a little Italian... He was about this tall", lowering his hand just above his waist.
