Is there a sharper, wittier and cooler artist treading the
country music boards than Cale Tyson? Fair enough the sample pool of live
musicians in the UK is hardly comparable to the excesses of Texas and Tennessee.
However If one exists, they have a heck of a marker to surpass in this
Nashville based Texan signed to British label Clubhouse Records. Otis Gibbs
coined the phrase: ‘there are only two things that matter in art: those who
make it and those who receive it; everything else is an artificial filter’. You
can be rest assured that standing six feet from Cale Tyson while watching him perform
in awe for ninety minutes tonight in Oxford, there was distinctly no artificial
filter to be seen. It was raw, real and riveting from start to finish.
The live version of Cale Tyson is a major upgrade in 2016
thanks to a three piece band joining him on tour. This is starting from a lofty
base of the impression Cale made last year when he toured as a duo with Pete
Lindberg. Pete switched to drums on this trip with Andrew Hunt on bass and
Brett Resnick, effectively playing lead on pedal steel, making up the quartet.
Stellar Austin based pedal steel guitarist Geoff Queen mightily impressed when
playing with Hayes Carll last week, but Brett took the twang to another plane
with his performance this evening. It was a display of pure emotive bliss.
With his sculptured poise, voice born to sing the sad song
and an unbelievable depth of lyrical prowess, Cale Tyson is living his destiny
and taking a whole bunch of converts with him on this amazing journey. There
are endless prefixes and tags to the genre of country music, but Cale literally
trashes them all while reclaiming the heart and soul of its purest form. An
endearing charisma surrounds his stage persona that grows during the show and
crowns the golden stream of outstanding songs that just flow unfiltered from
his guitar.
Earlier this year what was
in effect a debut Cale Tyson album was released and CARELESS SOUL has wooed
critics on all levels. Last year’s Clubhouse release was technically an amalgamation
of two EPs and material from all his records featured heavily in tonight’s show
at The Bullingdon, once again arranged by Empty Rooms Promotions. The sounds spanned
the beat and tempo spectrum ranging from the rolling ‘Railroad Blues’ through to a stunning solo performance of ‘Not Missin’ You’ in the first encore
slot. The presence of the band rose immensely on the faster songs and presents another
opportunity to wax lyrical about Brett’s pedal steel playing. Cale perhaps
comes more to the fore on the slower numbers, and the sadder the song gets, the
more profound the connection between artist and listener.
In a satire drenched ninety minutes, Cale dismissed Andrew
and Brett midway through the set to enable his duo role with Pete to be
re-united and the execution of a memorable dual performance of ‘Travelling Man’ and ‘Oaxaca’. The first of these is a
personal favourite and was thoroughly enjoyed, while the second managed to take
the sad song genre to a new depth with its conclusion. On the topic of Cale
Tyson tracks which stand head and shoulders above the rest, tonight’s airing of
‘Old Time Blues’ and ‘Somebody Save Me’ were utterly
magnificent, paying dividends tenfold of any investment made to support his
music.
There was plenty to enjoy in the show away from Cale’s
recorded material. Andrew was given the opportunity to sing a song after the
audience were informed that he is a member of the distinctly named Nashville
Western Swing band Johnny Appleseed. Pete also chipped in with a version of the
Merle Travis song ‘Nine Pound Hammer’.
Brett just let his pedal steel do the talking! Before we transgress from the
unrecorded material, ‘Abilene’ took
us back to Cale’s Texas roots and the finale version of Micky Newberry’s ‘Why You Been Gone So Long’ closed a
super evening on a positive upbeat note with all four band members in full
flow.
Bringing the Cale Tyson story right up to date revealed a
spread of several other songs from the new album including the title track ‘Careless Soul’, ‘Gonna Love a Woman’
and ‘Easy’. Inevitably the horns and
brass didn’t cross the pond to replicate the soulful sound on the record and
the opening track ‘Staying Kind’ was omitted
from this show. Although the focus should be on what Cale and the band did and
that beyond doubt was totally awesome.
A special mention also needs to be reserved for Oxford based
American duo Loud Mountains which played a rather early opening slot due to the
venue’s club night curfew. The duo showed plenty of promise with a useful
toolkit to share music that can engage all ages. Their final song ‘Lethal Remedy’ was the pick of the
originals played in the half hour set and who cannot fail to enjoy a well
drilled cover version of Ryan Adams’ ‘Oh
My Sweet Carolina’.
Cale Tyson’s show in Leicester last year was a top five
favourite from over ninety gigs attended. How high will the 2016 full band
version be when the dust settles? A tough ask with Jason Isbell, Chris
Stapleton and the Dixie Chicks already in the books and several other giants
looming. Yet this guy has something about him that often words cannot do
justice, even the imperfections are utterly stylish. A Cale Tyson gig requires little
objectivity, just a slice of your subjective mind. These shameless and bias
musings are bound by a genuine honesty. The opportunity to engage is out there
and the artificial filter of this piece should merely be a prompt. It’s a decision you won’t regret.
