Tricia Olszewski reviewed a September 2006 John Ralston performance for The Washington Post:

John Ralston must have felt like a jukebox at the Rock N Roll Hotel on Sunday. Playing second in a three-act lineup, the singer-songwriter and his band blasted the latest hipster addition to the H Street corridor, but the volume of their first Washington show still wasn't enough to drown out the quarter-capacity crowd that at times seemed more interested in shouted conversation than music.

Perhaps audience members were turned off by a 15-minute attempt to fix a speaker problem after Ralston and his three backers -- with the bass player's mike sporting a "Save Tony Kornheiser" sign -- had taken the stage. Following an interminable number of "check, check, checks," Ralston finally had the sense to utter "[Forget] it" and amiably announce, "We'll see how this goes -- no promises!"

The twenty-something Florida native, former frontman of Legends of Rodeo, breezed through his 30-minute set with no further trouble.

While Legends' one-album repertoire is a bit more rockin', Ralston's debut, "Needle Bed," goes for a mellower sound. "Whose Heart Are You Breaking Tonight?," a bonus track, is marked with a simple, Ryan Adams-style melody and angst, and the radio-friendly "Gone Gone Gone" recalls Ed Harcourt's more up-tempo compositions, full of intricate instrumentation and, well, angst.

Ralston alternated between keyboard and guitar throughout the performance, at times going solo and belting out his dark lyrics with the earnestness of a teenager freshly ruminating on heartbreak and death. Ralston's songwriting may need some maturing -- and his show a little polish -- but his potential rang clear, even over the audience din.