Well. The first of three nights of the “London Residency” portion of Jerry Joseph’s latest UK tour saw the Green Note overwhelmed by a wave of passion. Not the lovey-dovey kind of passion but the “I’ve got to sing this song or frankly I’m going to explode” form of passion. Jerry Joseph more than sings his songs, he is his songs. Jerry Joseph doesn’t do a gig, as such, the gig is being in the presence of a man suffused with this overwhelming passion for his music and who will also tell you stuff that pertains or attaches or has absolutely no real bearing on the songs at all. But vigorously.
Starting solo, perched increasingly precariously on a stool, one might have imagined – given recent events – that this would be an excoriating set, but it opened with a cover of Tom Waits’ ‘Come On Up To The House‘ which could easily be taken as a more nuanced commentary as Joseph sings “Well the moon is broken / And the sky is cracked / Come on up to the house / The only things that you can see / Is all that you lack.” Victory goes to the person who plays most successfully on self-interest. It’s not a regular choice – as the words are read from a ‘phone screen – but there’s no such intermediary for ‘Two Balloons‘ which is presaged by a long explanation of the sanitary difficulty of drug dealing when the cops realise the dealers’ store the goods under their tongues, leading them to shift to an alternative orifice. And how Warren Zevon was a dick and how Jerry Joseph pissed him off by playing REO’s ‘Roll with the Changes‘ – “a song we were all too cool to admit to having ever heard.” If the introduction was long the song itself is epically long, and the shame and guilt and, yeah, the self-loathing of letting someone down…again and again…burnt through to the point where it’s hard to listen. Not many songs do this, not many singers either.
Sean Mannion, mandolin player with Forty Elephant Gang (who had opened the night) and singer Ella Spencer joined jerry on-stage for a couple of songs – Sean it appeared was expecting to play on only one on the not unreasonable grounds that he didn’t know the second one. He was cajoled into staying and more than acquitted himself. Ella Spencer’s latest single was co-produced by Jerry Joseph and it would be an understatement to say that he thinks she is really, really good. Over a good eight or nine minutes ‘Radio Cab‘ mixes a Neil Young ‘On The Beach‘ era unfathomable but apocalyptic seeming vision with a simple statement of love, it’s a song torn aside with passion in the performance and simple lyrics like “I don’t want you to leave / I want you to stay” hurt like hell, as they burn with pain and longing. The extra vocals, and the powerful combination of Joseph’s aggressively played acoustic guitar and Mannion’s ever more powerful mandolin gave that extra depth. Memorable. As was ‘White Dirt’, with Mannion inventing his part on the fly whilst love and break ups and thoughts of suicide swirl around like an emotional maelstrom.
Having unentangled himself from his cables and his seat, and with Mannion taking his leave, there was still time for a couple more songs. Written in Scotland whilst trying to be Richard Thompson ‘Late Heavy Bombardment‘ is, of course, passionate- no synonym quite conveys that complete emotional engagement. But it’s also beautifully tender. And then, after a short statement about the recent election outcome – a momentous error like Brexit but on a bigger scale – there’s what is described as Ella Spencer’s favourite song of his, ‘San Acacia’ with its interplay of drug cartels, trafficked women and looming death. Jerry Joseph can invoke passion – but he paints painful pictures with a deceptive beauty, this could be a Tarantino movie, but you wouldn’t want to be walking through it in real life.
This was far from the end of the evening – Jerry Joseph lingered by the stage, greeting familiar faces, taking thanks and giving it and engaging with strangers like long lost friends, discussing animatedly the music, the bands he has been associated with, his political thoughts and…well, everything under the sun. Quite the experience, and two more London opportunities remain.
As noted above, the evening commenced with a set from Forty Elephant Gang – named for the late 19th / early 20th century all female organised shoplifting gang. They play an Americana mix drawing on bluegrass and folk but with a modern pop sensibility in the turn of phrase used in the lyrics. With songs about tentative love and with phrases like ‘I love you / but I want to miss you” encouraging times of…just not constantly being around each other in a relationship, bands like Squeeze or The Beautiful South might come to mind. On their set closer ‘Hard Times‘ they displayed the wisdom of saving the best to last as the song built relentlessly in power with all three instruments played to string breaking levels.
