Review: Josh Rouse, Redgrave Theatre

Josh Rouse’s first Bristol show, some twenty years ago now, was in a small room upstairs at the old Bristol Flyer pub on Gloucester Road. It was Bristol’s first hearing of the melodic, finely crafted mid-tempo songs that have marked his now lengthy career. The audience that night was so small that at the end of the show he went around the room with his co-headliner, Kurt Wagner, and personally thanked each audience member for coming out and supporting them.

Fast forward all those years and, having been a regular visitor to our city in the meantime – most recently a few months ago – Rouse finds himself on a balmy evening in the cosy environs of the Redgrave Theatre in leafy Clifton for his appearance as part of Bristol’s River Town Americana Festival.

Rouse first found his way onto the radar of British listeners as part of the wave of Gram Parsons inspired Alternative Country artists, including Whiskeytown, Lambchop and Wilco, that emerged in the late 90s. Since then he has released a steady stream of albums of melancholic Americana. He’s a very fine songwriter and the attentive and enthusiastic audience tonight were with him all the way as he skipped through selections from his back catalogue accompanied only by his acoustic guitar and occasional bursts of harmonica.

His latest album, Love in the Modern Age, has, as usual, been positively reviewed. His thoughtful songs set this time against a template of the more cerebral end of 80s pop. Fans of Steve McQueen era Prefab Sprout or the Blue Nile will find much familiar and to enjoy here. Songs from the album, including Salton Sea and Businessman – his kids’ favourite apparently, with an incessant hook that this audience are more than happy to sing along with – are stripped of their synth-based backing in tonight’s setting and are comfortably able to stand this starker presentation.

It is in tracks from his mid-2000s career high points of 1972 and Nashville that his song writing effortlessly flies. On It’s the Night time, My Love Has Gone and 1972’s lovely title track, delicious melodies sit alongside smart lyrics. Rouse seems to smile with continued delight at some of the chord changes that these oft-played songs still give him.

He tells a story of Robert Plant popping into see him prior to a show. The Led Zep front man is a fan apparently, and considered including one of Rouse’s songs on the multimillion selling, Grammy award winning Raising Sand album that Plant made with Alison Krauss in 2007. This didn’t happen and you can’t help feeling that, although he seems happy to continue with his touring of smallish venues, Rouse has never had the breaks his undoubted talent deserves. He seems rather like a man out of time: if he’d come on the scene in the early 70s he may well have had a well-reviewed show or two at The Troubadour West, been signed up by David Geffen, and had a couple of songs covered by the likes of The Eagles.

Tonight he is the likeable master of another friendly setting with a knowledgeable audience who enthusiastically shout his song titles back at him when he asks for any requests. He finishes performing off mic at the stage front with the suitably summery Love Vibration, again from the 1972 album. It’s been a lovely way to spend a summer’s evening with one of modern music’s great underachievers. Let’s hope his big break is just around the corner and in the meantime we can look forward to his next visit to our fair city and another intimate show.