ABOUT JAMES
BOOKING & PRESS USA: LaurelCanonLA @ gmail.com, 323 369 1540
PRESS/RADIO UK: gpromo @ btinternet.com
A prolific songwriter with a poetic flair, James has been called "one of folk-pop's best kept secrets" by the LA Weekly and "the missing link between Low and John Lennon" by UK's Guardian newspaper. James grew up in an Indiana river town obsessed with AM radio and his older sisters’ classic rock and folk record collection. That obsession morphed into a passion for writing songs that found its first real expression in his college band Arson Garden, who released albums recorded at Prince’s Paisley Park Studios and Pachyderm (Nirvana’s “In Utero”) and led them to tour 36 states and five European countries, have albums in the CMJ charts, videos on MTV, a Lollapalooza performance and a fanbase all over the US and Europe. One such fan was the legendary BBC DJ John Peel, who invited the band to play a live Peel Session at the BBC in London. The Chicago Reader called Arson Garden “the only art rock band in America that matters.”
After the band’s demise and a move to California, James continued making critically acclaimed solo albums, earning a West Coast audience and rave reviews (including the afore-mentioned profile in the Guardian). He co-wrote and played on an end title for HBOs True Blood sung by Iggy Pop and Best Coast’s Bethany Cosentino that was called one of Iggy’s all time best collaborations by Rolling Stone, NME and others,, released five albums (including one on the super cool Ubiquity record label), and played live from Paris to New York to San Francisco to The Laurel Canyon Country Store.
James has shared stages shared artists as diverse as Jackson Browne, Van Dyke Parks, Tom Verlaine, Sarah Bareilles, Tenacious D, Yo La Tengo, Marianne Faithfull, Inara George, They Might Be Giants, and actor John C. Reilly.. In 2019, James’ band Great Willow played Laurel Canyon's prestigious Love Street Festival, the only current LA band invited to share the main stage with surviving members of 60s legends The Doors, The Monkees, The Mamas and The Papas, and Love.
James also just might be the only songwriter you know who has had a song he wrote featured in a question by Alex Tribek on Jeopardy! His songs have been featured in some of the coolest shows on TV, including Six Feet Under, True Blood and Shameless and many more. His most recent solo album Falling Under Spells was released to rave reviews, extensive airplay in Europe and LA, and was named a top 20 album of the year by UK Music site Blues Blues.
James is one half of the close harmony duo GREAT WILLOW with Erin Hawkins (www.greatwillowmusic.com), is the co-founder and Director of Sync Licensing at Laurel Canon Music, an original co-founder of Bloomington, Indiana’s Lotus World Music and Arts Festival, a board member at FAR-West (the annual west coast music conference) and co-curator for FAR-West’s monthly concert series, FAR-West Presents.
