Colin James, Orpheum Theatre, March 21, 7:30 p.m. For more information visit colinjames.com.
He thought he was trending upwards. Instead, he headed for a ditch.
But it was from that ditch that Colin James, then 16, had his inner fire lit – it’s the moment he knew what he had to do and made moves to do it, the blues singer-songwriter tells the North Shore News.
“Lots of stuff happens as you’re growing up, and I ended up in a car accident at 16. I ended up upside down in a ditch,” says James. “I think that was a real moment for me where I went, ‘You know, you could either go through the motions and pretend you’re going to school here for a couple more years, or get going and start making a life for yourself.’ It was a wake up.”
No longer content to simply bide his time, James made the move from his native Regina to Winnipeg shortly after climbing out of that ditch, and started gigging relentlessly.
He’d been playing in bands since he was 13 years old, exposed from a young age to everything from 1960s-era folk à la Pete Seeger, the transcendent jazz-blues talent of American singer Odetta, and the punk diaspora carved out by the likes of the Ramones, the Sex Pistols and the Police.
“I started playing folk music and then I went into this feeling-like-I-was-missing-my-youth thing and had to play what people my own age were doing,” says James, who notes that despite that feeling, it always felt forced. “I felt like I was doing it for the wrong reasons.”
His true love was the blues, a form he describes as “a moving piece of art every time,” whether it’s through reworking the smooth tenor of a Blind Willie McTell song or reimagining the sizzling electric blues of a Freddie King riff.
“It never stays in the same place,” says James, on the way that blues musicians can carve out a vision for the future by paying homage to the genre’s treasured past. “It may have the same form, but depending on how deep you bring it to the song it will change radically night to night.”
Upon moving to Winnipeg, a teenaged James landed a spot with the Winnipeg Folk Festival, in addition to “playing on the street corners in Winnipeg in front of liquor board stores and all that.” After sharpening his blues chops over a number of years, and returning to Saskatchewan for a brief spell, James describes how he one day received a call asking him to open up for Stevie Ray Vaughan, who at the time was a legend in the making.
“‘Do you have a band? Can you get here?’ And I lied and said I did, which I didn’t,” says James. He wrangled up some players and the night of gig James recalls Vaughan busting into the room, exclaiming: “‘Hey, I’m Stevie. Did I hear right? Did I here that you guys have never played together?’”
“I said, ‘I’m afraid so,’” notes James.
An instant friendship was born, and a year later Vaughan would request James to open up some more shows for him in Alberta. By this time, James had moved to Vancouver. His guitar playing and singing skills were solidified – his next venture was songwriting.
In 1988 James’ self-titled debut was released, containing a number of original songs and some Willie Dixon covers. The record eventually went double platinum and earned James his first Juno Award win.
The leadoff track from that album, “Five Long Years,” includes James’ reflections on time’s passing through the lens of encountering a former girlfriend.
“Five years went by and I was on the road. She came out to a show when I played Winnipeg – with her child, she’d had a young girl at that point,” explains James. “I got home and just thought about that – those choices you make in life, the left turn or the right turn.”
Six Juno wins and 17 nominations later, James has zigged and zagged left and right throughout his career – spanning experiments in swing, jive, rock, jazz, pop, and more – but has always maintained a strong blues connection, his constant musical through line.
“This isn’t radio-driven music I’m doing now. It’s got a niche market all over the world. I’m so glad they embraced it,” says James, citing his previous two records, 2016’s Blue Highways, and 2018’s Miles to Go, the latter of which is nominated for Blues Album of the Year at the Juno Awards airing this Sunday. Both albums are warm tributes to the blues musicians and music that has impacted him profoundly his whole life.
“Even if you’ve played it a million times you could put a little more energy into this part that night, or change it up a little bit,” he says. “After all these years, it’s nice.”
