Colin James - Open Road

09-11-2021

Colin James (born Colin James Munn, August 17, 1964) is a Canadian rock and blues singer and songwriter. "I'm opening doors for you, walk through them." (Stevie Ray Vaughan). From the prairies of Saskatchewan to sharing the stage with arguably the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time, Colin James still remembers those words of advice given to him by the late, great, Stevie Ray Vaughan. Colin James has taken those words to heart. His career has spanned over 30 years. Looking back over Colin's career, it's a timeline rich in highlights. Over the years Colin has worked with some of the world's most revered artists including, Bonnie Raitt, Albert Collins, Pops Staples, Robert Cray, Albert King, Keith Richards, Lenny Kravitz, ZZ Top, Mavis Staples, Luther Allison, Roomful of Blues, Bobby King and Terry Evans, John Hammond Jr., The Chieftains, Carlos Santana, Little Feat, Johnny Hallyday, Jeff Healey, and Buddy Guy. In addition to his own recording and touring Colin is a prolific songwriter, his music has been recorded by the likes of Maria Muldaur, Johnny Hallyday and Lucinda Williams. Upon his 2019 release "Miles To Go", Colin earned the Juno Award for Blues Album of the Year, as well as 6 Maple Blues Awards in several blues categories. Colin has set the bar for consistency and talent in Canadian music and even after a lot of acclaimed albums remains at the top of his game, always challenging himself musically. A consummate professional and a superb guitarist, Colin is a musician's, musician. The confidence that comes with maturity can be heard in his voice and seen in his electrifying stage performance. He does what comes naturally, he always has, he knows no other way and no other life. Award-winning Canadian blues guitarist and bandleader Colin James achieves another high-water mark on his freshly-pressed new album "Open Road". The set came out November 5th, 2021 on Stony Plain Records and is the 20th release of James' accomplished career. James co-produced "Open Road" with his longtime creative partner Dave Meszaros and tracked with a talented assortment of players recruited from the live and studio bands he has worked with over the years. The resulting record was mixed at Abbey Road Studios in London and veers into Americana/roots/blues territory, which is a bit of a departure from James' last few efforts. It features new original songs written with familiar collaborators like Colin Linden, Craig Northey, and Tom Wilson as well as covers of songs by Bob Dylan, Albert King, Tony Joe White, and Otis Rush. Taken as a whole, it feels like a long-lost old friend who's come back to town. Colin James is an honest-to-gosh Canadian guitar hero and musical legend. He's been in the game for more than 30 years and has 20 studio albums, 7 Juno Awards, 27 Maple Blues Awards, and multi-platinum record sales to his credit. He's worked with a boatload of major artists including Bonnie Raitt, Albert Collins, Pops Staples, Robert Cray, Albert King, Keith Richards, Lenny Kravitz, ZZ Top, Mavis Staples, Luther Allison, Roomful of Blues, Bobby King and Terry Evans, John Hammond Jr, The Chieftains, Carlos Santana, Little Feat, Johnny Hallyday, Jeff Healey, and Buddy Guy. He's also seen his original songs cut by the likes of Maria Muldaur, Johnny Hallyday and Lucinda Williams and is responsible for kicking off the swing revival in Canada with his amazingly popular Little Big Band. James is a true pro who has done it all and matured into a breathtaking performer with an unmistakable presence. Tony Joe White's "As The Crow Flies" kicks things off with a pumping blues/rock groove with a hard push to it. James' vocal and guitar lines weave in and out of each other and he uses open space to create atmosphere like a boss. His guitar tone is throaty, unique, and sounds slightly out-of-phase, which makes it delicious. It sounds cliche but his sound really will grab your attention. It's a signature element that separates Colin from all the other guitar slingers out there and adds the perfect enhancement to his already-articulate soloing. "Can't You See What You're Doing To Me" by Albert King is tight, tough, and lowdown. James puts the vocal down with a purpose and again uses an ultra-expressive tone to get his ripping guitar lines across. His title track "Open Road" is a hypnotic, mid-tempo Americana cut that will make you want to get yourself out on the highway. It's message is to take life as it comes, especially after our shared pandemic experience, and that we never know what story each new day is going to tell us. James' songwriting seems to be aimed at uplifting his fans and he uses his blues to give us all a bold sense of hopefulness that our lives will come back together again. "Raging River" is a haunting, existential, swamp ballad that will crawl into your soul in a beautifully unsettling way. James keeps his chops in check here, letting the lyrics and voice do most of the heavy lifting. It's a soulful, chilled-out moment that feels like a serious 4am conversation over smokes and whiskey. Quiet moments can still be epic and that's definitely the case on this one. Be sure to also get tuned into James' romping version of Bob Dylan's "It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry." He delivers Bob's lyrics well and also throws down more killer guitar work. Colin James has made the record of his career with Open Road and shows us a lifetime of musical evolution and skill on every song. Do yourself a favor and listen closely because there's a lot here to take in. Highly recommended. "Open Road", Colin James' 20th studio album, finds the Saskatchewan-born recording artist looking forward to the future, personally and musically, while continuing the ongoing dialogue with the past so central to his relationship with the blues. While it was made during a time when connecting with others was difficult, Open Road is a record that celebrates personal connections, a deeply satisfying set of original tunes written with long time collaborators like Colin Linden, Craig Northey, and Tom Wilson, and reinterpretations of covers by a diverse group of songwriters including Bob Dylan, Albert King, Tony Joe White, and others. "We did the first session right after we got off the road on the last tour," James explains, "which, I think, was my favorite tour I've ever been on." In addition to taking the band coast-to-coast across Canada, the tour found James playing a wide range of venues in the US. "We got a lot of traction there recently, and, after 30 years or whatever it's been of touring, I just felt so happy and grateful to have this band out on the road."When they started to head deeper into the US, however, he adds : "That's when Covid hit ..." Recorded with long-time co-producer, Dave Meszaros, and showcasing the talents of players culled from James' live and studio combos over the years, listening to Open Road stem to stern is like spending some long-hoped-for quality time with old friends. Accomplishing that wasn't easy, James explains: "Dave was working in London, England, so our session times were all over the map. It's phenomenal (what technology allows you to do) when you have to, but I never want to make a record like that again. Ever. My tendency is to write collaboratively, and there's no substitute for the energy of everyone getting together in the same room." Although that wasn't always possible, Open Road displays what consummate musicianship, dedication, and the impact that deep, long-time musical connections can accomplish, even in far from ideal circumstances. Fuelled by standout performances from drummer, Geoff Hicks, bassist Norm Fisher, B3 wizard Simon Kendall, and rhythm guitarist Chris Caddell, "Open Road" is a celebration of those bonds. Characterized by ghostly organs set against James' substantial vocal and guitars chops and featuring stellar turns by the likes of Steve Marriner on Harmonica, Jesse O'Brien on Piano, and saxophonists Jerry Cook and Steve Hilliam, it's also a record with the kind of depth, breadth and impact only someone as intimately acquainted with the genre can pull off in a way that's both fresh and familiar as well as fiery and thoughtful. That's abundantly clear on the album's title track, a song co-written by James and Northey that sets the tone for the album's preoccupation for traveling the highways and byways that are part and parcel of a touring musician's life. But while the track seems custom-crafted to reflect the road life of traveling musicians, it's a song anyone can find their own lives and experiences reflected in; all summed up in the lyrics, 'every life is an open road'. "It's definitely got a sense of movement," James says, "which, I think, is compounded by our lack of ability to travel over the last year and a half." For James, "Open Road" is the third in a trilogy of records, a natural follow up to the 2018 Juno Award-winning "Miles To Go", itself a sequel to his critically acclaimed 2016 effort, "Blue Highways". "Those two records, in a way they're almost street blues, and through them we found a new audience, especially in America. They also had a fair number of covers; some of them reimagined versions of songs I've known since I was 12 or 13 years old. So, on Open Road I wanted to try and stay true to that kind of blues, but also to show some growth." Job done, from tunes James terms "unlikely covers," like his spirited version of the Bob Dylan penned, 'Down on the Bottom' to 'There's a Fire', a cowrite with Colin Linden that James describes as an instant reflection on the need for justice in the wake of the past years humanitarian struggles, Open Road mines the past and present for inspiration in equal measure. That said, it's also a record that finds James looking forward with determination. After 19 months and change of Covid, everyone feels more than a bit down and done. But while James isn't immune to that feeling, the variety of blues he presents on "Open Road", rather than dwelling on struggle, is meant to lift people's spirits, encourage them to shake off the shadows, and move forward in a way that's fiercely hopeful. That's a sentiment that's loud and clear on the album's opening track, 'As the Crow Flies', a stomping, relentlessly swampy interpretation of the Tony Joe White classic that puts the enforced distance we've lived through since mid-2020 into welcome perspective. But far from looking at that distance and bemoaning the loss of connection, "Open Road" is all about celebrating the commonalities that bring us together even when circumstances, be they a global pandemic or the routine struggles of living, threaten to tear us apart. A thread he teases out further and just as compellingly on his signature take on Otis Rush's 'It Takes Time' and his co-write with Tom Wilson, 'Leave This House'. If there's one thing Colin James takes from the past year and telegraphs elegantly on "Open Road", it's how important and powerful music as a communal experience is to people. Not only as a means of responding to struggle, but moving through and past it, together. That's reflected clearly in the result, a product of his lifelong love affair with the blues and the deep relationships he has with those he collaborated with on Open Road, and a powerful set of songs that sound just as live, immediate, and vital as any of James' past work. Ultimately, "Open Road" is a record that will resonate deeply with anyone with a pulse, whether as a balm to soothe the transition back to normal life post-pandemic, as the celebration of a tradition that's as lively and vital today as ever, or as a soundtrack to push yourself forward to meet new challenges.

1 As The Crow Flies

2 Can't You See What You're Doing To Me

3 That's Why I'm Crying

4 Open Road

5 Change It

6 Raging River

7 When I Leave This House

8 It Takes Time

9 There's A Fire

10 It Takes a Lot To Laugh, It Takes a Train To Cry

11 Bad Boy

12 Down On The Bottom