Live Review: Tim Rogers, Catherine Britt

A solid crowd has turned out early and found their way to the hidden enclave out the back of the Old Museum which is housing tonight's proceedings, the beautiful back studio looking ornate even with all of the chairs removed to enable standing room. The sound is great as country chanteuse Catherine Britt kicks off proceedings, armed only with an acoustic guitar, her expressive voice and an album's worth of new material. The title track from her new record Always Never Enough is a stinging attack on an ex-boyfriend, before her default country twang comes to the fore in hometown homage (Newcastle, in this case) Charlestown Road. She lambasts the music industry with Mind Your Own Business and offers heartbreak lament A Few Good Years before a tousled looking Tim Rogers joins for a duet of Troubled Man – which he also shares on her new album – and then the rest of his band (Gus Agars on drums, Shane O'Mara on guitar and Cameron Bruce on keys) enter and the pace picks up considerably, the solid set finishing with jagged new number Addicted To The Pain.

Mr Rogers and his band leave the fray only to make a triumphant reappearance a short while later, the You Am I frontman rocking a light-coloured suit with his white shirt unbuttoned to the waist, beginning the set with All Or Nothing – the opening track from the new album Rogers Sing Rogerstein – which segues nicely into another newie Part Time Dads, a lush number which would have subsisted comfortably on Hourly Daily. He sticks to his solo catalogue throughout the set, older tracks such as Jimmy's Delicate Condition and Goldfield Blues rubbing up nicely against newer numbers like the rocking Drivin At Night. Rogers' voice is so familiar and comforting, wrapping around you like a shawl on a winter's night, and it's hard to believe that this solo domain is only an adjunct to his main project, especially when he's offering up beautiful paeans like I Left My Heart All Over The Place and the hilarious new I Love You Just As You Are, Now Change. There's a great bond amongst the players – for them to be more than just a token pick-up band, a strong rapport is imperative – and the crowd is lapping it up, the main set ending with the gorgeous older pairing The Songs They Played As I Drove Away and You've Been So Good To Me So Far, and the Britt-abetted If Yer Askin, I'm Dancin'. An encore ensues – which includes a rendition of Dylan's Boots Of Spanish Leather – and then it's all over: one of our finest ever singer/songwriters chalks up yet another notch on the bedpost of his fascinating career.