Cool? What is this elusive quality we associate with rock stars? Some have it and lose it, others crave it whilst others think they have it when they don’t, which is actually pretty uncool. Well, I can officially confirm that the essence of cool is alive and kicking and currently touring the country in the guise of Chuck Prophet and The Mission Express. 

Chuck Prophet, originally guitarist with seminal country alt rockers Green on Red, has had a solo career since 1990. His new release Soap and Water is a rich collection of country and blues orientated mediations on everything from isolation to seduction to girls with freckles.  Playing a venue as small as The Barfly seems somehow improbable for a performer with the gargantuan charisma of Prophet but the intimate space is perfect if only so the audience can see the playful curl of sarcasm that seems to adorn Prophet’s face at all times.

Support is provided tonight by Willy Vlautin and Paul Brainard of the excellent Richmond Fontaine. With pedal steel, acoustic guitar, beautiful vocals and engaging in between song banter they are the best ‘support’ band I have seen in years. Their songs relate bittersweet and deceptively simple slices of American pastoral in the spirit of Raymond Carver; the musical equivalent of squandering your last five dollars in the world on a frozen margarita outside a roadside café. And with an extended version of the heartbreaking Postcard from California, from the 2003 album Post to Wire, the rainy Cambridge Monday evening seems like a world away.

By the time Chuck Prophet and The Mission Express take to the stage the audience are nicely relaxed. Within minutes Prophet has taken a member of the audience to task for ‘socialising’ too loudly. The audience member even argues back – is he insane? Not only will Prophet have the final word but he’ll do it more eloquently and with the use of two microphones.

The set tonight draws moderately from new album Soap and Water. Freckles is a flirty little ditty in which Prophet offers to ‘help you out of that dress before you catch a cold’. Other highlights include Could you Love Me? and Let’s Do Something Wrong in which Prophet repeats the deadpan plea so persuasively you feel that you really ought to go out and do something wrong.  However, it’s tracks like this that illustrate Prophet’s adept song-writing skills, skipping from heart-breaking swoops of emotion to the indignant question of ‘I always do the right thing, where did it get me?’ with ease. 

The Mission Express provides a worthy accompaniment to this genetically pre-destined front-man. Stephanie Finch (AKA Mrs Chuck Prophet) provides alluring and beautiful backing vocals. As my friend points out Prophet is a man who knows how to pull ‘proper guitar faces’. He does indeed, and if anyone deserves the right to these rock star indulgences it is Prophet. His face is intensely interesting, his songs rich and complete and his presence arresting.  This man is the essence of cool with the songs and talent to match, and why he hasn’t risen to the echelons of Tom Petty and Steve Earle is not only bizarre but really uncool.

Writer: Nancy Hogg

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