This past Saturday, Russell Jamie Johnson took the stage at Hotel Cafe to play a set of stripped down tunes to celebrate his newest single, Long Time Coming. This song is super catchy, has great instrumentation in the recording, sounded great acoustically and was inspired from the pandemic.
As the venue filled with people Russell brought an Alt Rock feel with a touch of twang to them. He had backstories to every song from Ex girlfriend’s to crazy college friends and witty banter that kept the crowd laughing in between songs. Every table was lit with candles that matched the intimate vibe of just his voice and the guitar. He kept the energy high with songs like, Put Me Out, First and Canal and of course his newest, Long Time Coming but wasn’t afraid to slow it down with his song, Sarah, which felt very vulnerable to listen to and was also my favorite of the night.
Overall his performance was amazing, he has a great voice with excellent storytelling abilities and catchy choruses. I will absolutely be keeping an eye out for future shows.