Ottawa singer-songwriter Jim Bryson has quietly been championed for many reasons, but a buoyant disposition is not among them. There has always been something Charlie Brown-like in his manner, a gloom that is strikingly echoed in his music.
So as he took the stage for this acoustic gig, it would have been understandable if the dark cloud that sometimes seems to hover over Bryson’s head was just a shade murkier. By the Rivoli’s entrance sat a box of promo gear that the upstart indie label Orange had manufactured to support the commercial fortune of Bryson’s acclaimed sophomore album, The North Side Benches. Help yourselves, Bryson told the crowd. Take home a badge or a poster; it was no longer of much service to his career. Just a year after signing to the Universal-distributed label, he has been dropped.
It all could have made for an evening as bleak as…well, one of Bryson’s songs. Instead, though, Bryson proved funny and defiant, and his performance was exceptional, thanks in part to the assistance of an unadvertised supporting player, Bryson’s pal Kathleen Edwards.
Edwards, whose second album Back To Me is due on Rounder in March, has often cited Bryson as a major influence on her songwriting, and Bryson played on Edwards’ breakthrough debut album, Failer. The classically trained violinist lent fiddle, mandolin and harmony vocals to a selection of his songs. “Travelled By Land” (from Bryson’s 2000 debut LP The Occasionals) and “Captain Finch” “Sleeping In Toronto” and “Somewhere Else” (from The North Side Benches) were enhanced by the evening’s instrumental austerity and the vocal interplay with Edwards (who has extended the circle of admiration by covering Bryson’s “Somewhere Else” on her forthcoming album).
Their interaction onstage was less Gram-and-Emmylou and more Sonny-and-Cher, with good-natured banter firing back-and-forth between the pair, Bryson needling Edwards over her recent relocation from Ottawa to Toronto. Still, the giddy mood didn’t interfere with the dramatic delivery of new Bryson nuggets “Fire Watch”, “This Time Of Year” and the tentatively (and ludicrously) titled “Marine Advisory (Me And Cecilia Down By The Bridge Over Troubled Water).”
And if he wasn’t such a fine songwriter, Bryson could make a career as a decent cover artist. His recasting of ex-Husker Du drummer Grant Hart’s “2541” and New Order’s “Love Vigilantes” as folk songs was inspired.
The good news, given the power of this performance, is that Bryson plans to move forward, sans label, and record an acoustic album for the new year. Stay tuned.
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