Josh T. Pearson - Last of the country gentlemen

The new Josh T. Pearson album, Last of the country gentlemen on Mute, is a thing of tremendous, compelling beauty. Rugged, romantic music with a core of very adult melancholy. My wife walked through the room while it was on and asked if it was Nick Cave, and she was on to something there, in terms of the general musical terrain it covers. Plus Warren Ellis plays keening, mournful violin on it. There's a trailer here which gives a good taste of the album (and prompts the comment, "never mind your hipster goatees, now that's a beard").

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/mpd/permalink/m2FP3YQRADM6JN/ref=ent_fb_link

Pearson is an enigmatic character who you can research more fully in your own time. He was in a band called Lift to Experience who released a great album on Bella Union about 10 years ago (it was called The Texas Jerusalem Crossroads and it was also madly compelling - my good friend at Songs to Learn and Sing put me on to it at the time). Here's part of an interesting documentary commissioned by Bella Union about the band.



If you need convincing about the new album, you can sign up to Pearson's mailing list and get a free mp3, here -

http://www.joshtpearson.co.uk/in-the-beginning-was-the-word/

There's no doubt in my mind that already, this will be one of the best albums of 2011 (Pearson plays The Crane Lane Theatre in Cork on May 1st, among other dates).