Ross Wilson, of Blue Rose Code, live alone and powerfully vulnerable.

Rare solo outing

Powerfully vulnerable, eh? If that seems oxymoron and contradictory, it most certainly is, with the paradox that is Blue Rose Code ever more steadfast in his hopes. This was a rare solo outing, for reasons he’d explain later, given the billing was for a duo performance. Whilst BRC is undoubtedly he, it is also the name of whatsoever band he groups about him, whether the up to nine piece monster, the Blue Rose Code Big Caley Soul Band of celebrant festival sets, or as a duo or trio. With a frontman as dynamic as he is, some little question always lingers as to whether fellow musicians are the trappings he needs to become fully himself. Boy, was that question answered tonight, totally validating this second review in less than a month..

This tour came about from an online request he mde earlier in the year, seeking suggestions for smaller and more intimate venues to road test some new material, up close and personal. Birmingham’s Kitchen Garden Cafè certainly ticks both those boxes, but he didn’t need prompting for that one, returning to it’s friendly terroir. It is here he has been on several occasions, usually with trusty guitar, (Wild) Lyle Watt, sometimes also with the piano of Paul Harrison. These gigs hve always been the yin to the yangs and clangs the horns heavy big band can bring to a big festival stage. Tonight should have been he and Watt, but, days before the tour, with Watt falling and fracturing his wrist, this warranted a swift rethink. Cue solo BRC.

Lots of new

Many of the songs tonight were, as promised, new, to the extent that, actually, he played precious little old. Not that the audience were remotely put out by that; Wilson has a staunch set of fans around the country who trust him and know that any new song is merely an old favourite not yet known. His people, and the room was sold out. First song, however, Love A Little, wasn’t, and, stripped back from the country leanings of the original, it became a plangent plea to love a little harder. As he sang ‘It’s only gonna be blind faith that’ll keep me clean and sober for another day’, knowing, five years on, that his faith is no longer blind, it was hard not to choke back a tear. And there would be more.

Showing himself to be a deft guitarist, competent and confident about the strings, as he picked and strummed. OK, not flashy or flaunting it, but a comfy awareness of what goes where, perhaps explaining why is songwriting is so acute. Definitely not just the singer in a rock and roll band. Say It Ain’t So and Easy As We Go followed, if neither introduced as such, as the words, characteristically, were left to do their job. Each fit well into his broad template of celtic soul, his keening voice searing his identity into the lyrics. His themes are increasingly based around thanks for his survival and grace for his opportunity to do what he so clearly loves.

All the more moving

He makes no secret of his status in recovery and the importance of those who have helped him along the way. One was John Wetton, journeyman bassist for Family, King Crimson, Asia and Roxy Music, amongst others. They met in the fellowship of recovery, becoming dear friends. I had never realised that Over The Fields, bracketed For John, was actually written for Wetton, and the version tonight was oddly all the more moving for that knowledge, together with the guitar arrangement opening up a host of additional nuances, not always previously apparent. (If there is but one song to look up on youtube, so as to guage a grab of where Wilson is coming from, make it that one.)

A brief mention must be made of one of the audience members, an individual who saw fit to freely wander in and out of the performance room, right at the front, between Wilson and the front row. Frequently, getting first bemused and then amused looks both from the singer and those present. Even a welcoming “woof woof” from Wilson failed to stop the constancy of perambulations by this totally unabashed spaniel, and was a first for me. The old Ceol Castle, up the road, now the Castle and Falcon, used to have a famous dog, howling in the alleyway outside, during shows; this dog was far better behaved.

Astronomers, rehab, pregnancies & Van

Further new songs and the occasional oldie followed. Even with just a guitar accompaniment, I was able to imagine the full heft of the BRC horns and how they may embellish the eventual studio delivery. Getting the audience to provide a clapping solo, midsong, was also a surprisingly effective ruse. (And yes, it was becoming clear that the setlist on the floor was never someting he was going to let himself be ruled by!)

Seguing together Riverstown and The Wild Atlantic Way, two further songs from 2020’s With Healings Of The Deepest Kind, showed off some of his looser guitar play, as well as, tongue loosened likewise, regaling us with tales of the history and background of each song. Involving a heavily pregnant partner, rehab, the astronomer royal and Van Morrison, it was a heady mix. His reward was the warmth of the di di di di di chorus he invited for Wild Atlantic way.

reverential & referential

Checking the time, it was one new more song ahead the break, the reverential and referential Sunday, which, despite the name, is a song of praise that can be to whom or whatever you choose. Warning the room he would be doing a Van, and exiting as promptly as he could, after the second half, he made it would be clear he was available for chats and sales in the interval, and was true to his word.

The future so bright?

With a brief nod to the splendour of 0% beers, a gamechanger for such as he, it was straight into As Good As It Gets, a song that demands inclusion on his next release. After explaining the title was prompted by the Jack Nicholson film of that name, he preambled into asking who knew the two types of people who wear sunglasses indoor. With his answer coming as either the blind or assholes, a wag in the audience expressed dismay that he was thus clearly blind….. Red Kites came next, just like pigeons, apparently, before any pretence that the handwritten setlist was for his purpose, relying instead on his phone.

One sure fire cracker is going to be Broken Hallelujahs, a rocking gospel infused scorcher, that again had it easy to imagine how this might sound, all plugged in and electric. For respite, this was balanced by a couple of grown up love songs: one of Wilson’s passions is around exploring the male psyche, his and those of those he sees about him, especially the lost and the led, as formative role models cease to exist. Grateful spells out his thanks to his partner, the mother of their children, without the mawkishness that might sound.

sad reflections of sadie

Sadie is one of the stand out songs from last year’s Bright Circumstance, a desperately sad story around adddiction and abuse. At the time of the album release I hadn’t realised that Sadie was his mother, his now late mother, something he only revealed after the song had gained traction. With that knowledge, and here stripped back to the barest of bones, it was another moment to worry about the dust in the room. (Actually his given reason for the dark glasses, and I believe him.) His rip through Amazing Grace followed, before the the final song of the evening. OK, the final two songs of the evening, it being agreed that to leave and return would be daft.

hugely satisfying

Ebb And Flow the first, with a whistling solo to replace the jaunty brass of the original, and, like all the songs, carrying a welter of differing emotions through the altered arrangement. I can’t emphasise how hugely satisfying it was to see all these songs approached so differently, and, I feel sure, different even from the duo or trio versions. Not enough to sack the band, but I’d watch your back, Lyle! No John Martyn song to round things up tonight, that often part of Wilson’s gameplan, and, you know, I was glad of that. No longer does he need any shirt tails to hang on to, however illustrious, and it was entirely fitting and appropriate that he should end with his own song, Peace In Your Heart. Sung with conviction, as ever, he meant it, he means it, and it was palpable in the room. Consummate.

Here’s Over The Fields (For John) with the piano arrangement it usually has:

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