Whilst JD McPherson’s name may suggest that of a Texan oil tycoon and in a certain light he does bear more than a passing resemblance to Bull Durham-era Kevin Costner, a far more accurate cultural reference point for this Okie from Broken Arrow is that of the character played by Michael J. Fox in the film Back To The Future. Like Marty McFly before him, McPherson went back to the 1950s. Not for him the luxury of a gull-winged DeLorean DMC-12, though, his chosen mode of transport was the musical legacy of that decade. Pure and unreconstructed rock ‘n’ roll, rhythm and blues, Western swing and rockabilly is what took him there and having gone back more than fifty years in time he then listened to and fully absorbed the sounds of Larry Williams, Sam Cooke, Buddy Holly, Little Richard and Fats Domino until they coursed through his veins. Above and beyond the music, McPherson also embraced the newly found freedom, spirit and innocence of the times, as he drove around in Cadillacs and Chevrolets to diners, juke joints and high school proms, all the while just huggin’ and a-kissin’ and dating pretty girls.
McPherson then travelled back through time, taking with him the mics and amplifiers of the day, stopping off in the ‘60s to refuel on some vintage soul as well as pick up a band and a Berlant reel-to-reel recorder. Together they all landed in 2010 and cut his debut album Signs & Signifiers; ten McPherson originals plus two covers, The Bellfuries’ “Your Love (All That I’m Missing)” and Tiny Kennedy’s “Country Boy”. These are the songs which form the solid and creative backbone to his sold out show in the Brudenell tonight. On stage these major tunes crackle and hum as if written for the sheer purpose and joy of being played live. “Firebug” is incendiary; “Your Love” and “Country Boy”, performed here back to back, seem to defy both age and gravity as they fly right across the packed room; and the album’s title song somehow manages to conjoin past and present quite perfectly by marrying up Bo Diddley’s “Mona” with Johnny Marr’s tremulous, stomping groove intro to “How Soon is Now”, and then having it all stapled together by that fabulous early Chess Records flat-tyre beat courtesy of McPherson’s musical collaborator Jimmy Sutton on upright bass and a young and tireless Buddy Holly look-a-like on drums.
While he does not possess either the range or power of Jackie Wilson, JD McPherson’s voice owes much to the late, great soul man’s imperious phrasing, perhaps no more so than on the evening’s first encore and really quite exceptional interpretation of Aaron Neville’s “I’m Just A Fool To Care”. McPherson can be rightly accused of leaning too heavily upon the past. It is a well of inspiration from which he draws extensively, though in his defence he seeks neither to repeat nor redefine all that has gone before. Instead he writes and performs in the here and now and through this process enables his audience to directly experience the past without having to resort to the inconvenience and undoubted expense of time travel.
