has carved a niche for himself in the acoustic and folk-blues scene through a lot of touring. He's built his fan base the old-fashioned way, without the support of an international record company marketing machine.
James, who plays National steel guitar, mandolin, and banjo, got hooked on blues as a 12-year-old. In his youth, he befriended and learned from some of the masters of acoustic blues:
Sam McGee and
B.B. King's cousin,
Furry Lewis. As a young teenager in New York City,
James heard the 78-rpm recordings of
Leadbelly,
Josh White, and
Meade "Lux" Lewis contained in his father's record collection. After moving to Tennessee, he befriended
McGee and
Lewis. In 1977, he moved to San Antonio Texas, where he further broadened his musical horizons out of necessity, playing with everyone from saxophone legend
Clifford Scott to rock & roll with
Bo Diddley. During this time, he also shared stages with
John Hammond, Jr. and
Dave Van Ronk when they were passing through Texas.
James' recordings include three releases for the Austin-based Antone's Records,
Two Track Mind (1993),
American Primitive (1994), and
Art & Grit (1996). More recently, he's been affiliated with the Portland, Oregon-based Burnside Records label and released
Boom Chang in 2000. Burnside issued a 2003 release,
Fast Texas, which has many Texas-centric songs about where
James has spent the last 25 years of his life. He's accompanied on the album by some other Texas transplants, including
Cindy Cashdollar on steel and dobro guitar, and
Ruthie Foster and Cyd Cassone on vocals. A good sampling of
James' inspired original songs can be found on
Fast Texas, as well as crafty interpretations of songs by
Hop Wilson,
Milton Brown, and
Little Hat Jones.
Cashdollar,
Gary Primich, and
Alvin Youngblood Hart also accompany
James on
Boom Chang.
James' guitar, mandolin, and slide guitar playing can be heard on recordings by
James McMurtry,
Angela Strehli,
Ana Egge, and
the Bad Livers.
James has also recorded an instructional video on acoustic blues guitar and contributed magazine articles to Acoustic Guitar magazine. His instructional book, Roots and Blues Fingerstyle was published by Acoustic Guitar.
Any of
James' recordings showcase his mastery on a variety of guitars, and any one of them would do for students of acoustic blues guitar. He might recommend that serious students check out his own influences:
Rev. Gary Davis,
Skip James,
Lightnin' Hopkins,
Doc Watson, and
Son House.
James continues to tour and teach across the U.S., Canada, Europe, and South America.
–
Richard Skelly, Rovi