Reflection

Well, I'm back.
I've had a pretty busy summer, promoting the new album, "Wondering Where the Rush Has Gone". At the end of the summer, I felt pretty burned out and was feeling the wear of what felt like two and a half straight years of making and promoting records.
And in fact that was essentially the truth. I went in to the studio to record "In Transit" in July '07 and then released it in Nov '07. We promoted that for 8 months and then I began writing for the new record, hitting the studio on October '08, a year ago next week to be exact. We released the new CD in June and toured through the summer to promote it. And the fact is, I am proud of the hard work that was done and very proud of the albums themselves. But I have to admit that I had hoped my career would be in better shape than it is now. I've been hard at it for close to 8 years and don't feel that I've made as many advances as I wish I could have by now.
So I needed to take some time to reflect and decide what my priorities are. Which is what I've done this fall.
I've realized that I really haven't been enjoying music for some time now. That was a shocking realization. I needed to find a way to change that. I needed to start having fun playing music again. I may not have direct control over the success of my career but I do have control over doing what I enjoy.
Ironically, as soon as I came to the decision that I wanted to start enjoying music, I did start enjoying it and I've also had some great successes...
I'm off to perform an official showcase at the Ontario Council of Folk Festivals next month. It's a great opportunity for me to showcase my new songs in front of festival programmer from across Canada and the world.
I really believe the material on the new CD is ideal for the folk festival circuit, a world I've really been trying to break in to.
My hope is that next summer, I'll be playing each week at another folk festival...
Fingers crossed.

New CD out now!

The new CD is available now through iTunes! I'm super excited.

Also, the new website is now launched. It's my first ground up build of a site and I plan on tweaking it as I learn more about the whole process...

This Friday, we'll be playing a CD release concert. We had an excellent dress rehearsal but I'm hoping that the saying "bad dress, good show", doesn't apply!

In other news, I've been busy producing the Wheat Pool's new album. We just finished tracking last week and now it's off to mix.

Looking forward to getting out on the road and playing the new stuff live.

Make sure you check out the website for dates near you!

Summer is a'coming!

Summer is almost here!

That means that my CD will be out soon too and touring to follow! I'm pretty excited though at the moment, a little on the overwhelmed side.

The artwork is completed, the venues are booked and the tickets are printed...
And despite it all coming together so smoothly, I'm still convinced I've forgotten not just something, but a million things...

Here's some good news! We'll be releasing the new album on Shameless Records! They are the home of many great bands and close friends of mine including The Wheat Pool, Nick Perreault, Deon Blyan and F&M.

So look for a new website coming soon and make sure you download or pick up a copy on the new CD "Wondering Where the Rush Has Gone", on June 9th when it hits iTunes and stores across Canada! And enjoy this beautiful Spring. Maybe see you at a show!

Live on CBC

Make sure you tune in to to Canada Live on CBC Radio 2 across the nation from 8pm-10pm on March 21st to hear a broadcast of James' concert at the Yukon Arts Centre, recorded April 2nd, 2008.

I'm pretty excited to hear it myself!

Things are coming along smoothly for the CD release. We are expecting a release date of June 9th, with a release tour to follow.

Be sure to join the mailing list. If you are a member you'll have the opportunity to download a track which won't be available on the new CD.

Click here to join.

The Pharmacist..

I had no idea before today that there even was a 6 AM!

At any rate, I'm up and about to head out the door to go be in a movie! The scene is being shot at a local punk club. I'll be playing the role of the guitarist in a Goth band..?? Chris, the drummer in my band will be playing drums too.

The movie, entitled The Pharmacist is a movie being shot here in Edmonton and stars Clinton Carew. Clinton was the director for my video, Transportation and was nominated for a Western Canadian Music Award for it.

I hear we'll have our choice of either Tim Horton's OR Starbucks coffee, on set! This is the big time folks!

New Album name....

Been a little busy as of late.
Sorry for my lack of presence in the blogging department...
The band and I have been busy with photo shoots, mix approvals, touring arrangements and a the other cool things that the music biz entails...
After the original songs for the album were recorded, I wrote a few more songs that I felt were strongest I'd written in a while, so just when I though the record was done, we went back in to my studio and tracked 2 more songs.
John Whynot is now working away, mixing the record and I gotta say, so far, it sounds really awesome!
Dustin Delfs and his assistant Micheal of Laughing Dog Photography were extremely generous in donating an incredible photo shoot for the album artwork.
The photos are now off with Nick Perreault, who designed the award winning artwork of my last record, In Transitwhere he is putting together the new artwork.
Now.... The answer to the burning question.... What's the name of the record?
Drum roll....
"Wondering Where The Rush Has Gone".

My friend Jon Nordstrom just popped by. Jonny has played bass with the band for almost 8 years now. He lives in Calgary now but was up to go to an Oilers' hockey game.
He dropped off a small Christmas gift; an edited video documenting the making of our doomed record, "Rise & Fall". It was a record that was never released, due to several reasons, primarily being that my record label wasn't crazy about it, which was too bad because the band and I were very proud of it...
At any rate, Jonny edited together an hour long documentation of the process, including our 3 day drive up to the Yukon, where the recording took place.
It re-invigorated my love of that record. I've actually re-recorded a couple of the songs which will be included on my upcoming CD, due in the spring. I'll try to post a few snippets of the video on my website in the next week or so.

Ouch!

Last Sunday, I played two games of hockey back to back... It was awesome!
I'm in two leagues that both hold their games at the same arena, so I was able to just stay in my gear and go right back out on the ice...
The first team we played were very chippy. Considering this is a "no-contact" league, they were bumping and generally playing on the dirtier side... I finally told one guy in particular, who we had nicknamed, Elbows, to lighten up a little... Well maybe I didn't say it that politely, but the next thing I know, I'm in the corner trying to dig out the puck and along comes Elbows and he gives me a good shot in the ribs... well, I went down and in the process, my stick went up. I received a high sticking penalty, while Elbows skates away, no call, looking like he was doing the Chicken Dance or something, his elbows still high and stuck out...
Well, that was in the 1st of my two games and I didn't really notice until the 1st break of the 2nd game that my ribs were still pretty sore.
Well it's 3 days later and they don't feel any better and having had broken ribs before, I can pretty much say that I have at least, cracked ribs at the moment...
Not sure if I'll be playing this weekend or not...

Snow day / Channeling ghosts...

So the first snow of the year has finally arrived! I was sort of wary before it came, it was looming in the distance for too long! Despite the cold, it's kind of a relief that it finally arrived...
I really like cross-country skiing, I used to ski competitively when I was growing up in the Yukon. I'd go on tours of different race circuits and did quite well... I was 4th at the Canadian Junior Championships about a billion years ago!
At any rate, now that the snow has fallen, my brain is fairly preoccupied with getting out on the trails.
The album....
Well, it's coming along slowly but surely. I got my friend and the band's former keyboard player, Dave Aide to play Hammond organ on it in a very unconventional manner: Dave lives in Nashville now so I emailed him the songs I wanted him to play on, he recorded them in his apartment with his keyboard. He then sent me his tracks back and I ran them through a real Leslie speaker cabinet (a rotating speaker that gives an organ it's recognizable "warbling" sound), re-recording it into the computer...
It was funny to be listening to the organ through the Leslie, without Dave actually being there... It was almost like channeling a ghost or something.

Deets on the new record...

Yikes!
Hard to believe it's been over a month since my last posting!
But when I think of all the things I've been up to, it's obvious why it's been so long...
Since October, I've been to Nashville, showcased and was nominated at the Western Canadian Music Awards AND... Recorded a brand new record!
The band and I just finished recording my 4th album. Unlike last record which took over 3 years to finally complete, this one has been recorded in less than a year since the last one (In Transit) was released.
For the first time, I am producing the record on my own. This is a very exciting endeavour for me. I get to make the record that I really want to make. I've been producing several records for other artists along with my studio partner, Chris Wynters for the last 3-4 years and felt that it was definitely time to try my own material.
We rented a space and brought in a bunch of gear from my studio. The idea was to capture the band in a very live state. I was really looking to limit the amount of overdubs and record the band the way we sound live at a show. The production was also very "dry" sounding and by that, I mean that the use of reverb and delay are limited, consequently the songs sound like they are being performed in your living room. The band lent their skills as well and were really able to shine. The feel of the record is slightly more mellow than previous recordings. There are also a few departures song-wise; there are two songs that we did that are very much story driven. By that I mean that the lyrics are very much a narrative. We recorded one song, "Canadian Summer", with just one microphone. We all sat in a circle around the mic and played it completely acoustically, in a very stripped down, rootsy feel.
At any rate, I'm excited for the record to be mixed and ready to be released for the spring of '09.

Ahhh, Nashville!

So my trip here to Nashville is rapidly winding up.
I've been staying at the SOCAN Nashville House. It's a house that is graciously provided, free of charge to members of Socan, who successfully apply. This is an amazing tool to have at our disposal and my hat is off to both Socan and the house hosts, Lee Ann and Darrell Burgess.
This is a truly amazing town. Music is everywhere.
And if ever there were a great example of how lucrative a business the arts/music can be, it's here. And by no means does it mean that money usurps creativity. In fact if anything, they go hand in hand.
You can't help but feel inspired by the history of the place. The Ryman Auditorium (original home of the Grand Ol' Opry) is a beautiful old building. Brown's Diner is the great, seedy, greasy spoon where all the great writers through the town's history drank and commiserated.
There are plaques everywhere, each one explaining some historical event or another that took place in that spot.
I was lucky enough to be able to meet up with a friend who lives down here, Mike Plume.
Mike was just finishing up the polishing touches on his new record the first day I was in town and he was good enough to let me hang in the studio with he and his producer. I was even able to contribute a small, line change for Mike's tune "8:30 Newfoundland", a song you will all be hearing soon, as I'm sure it will be a hit.
The producer Mike was working with was a walking storybook. Brent Maher has worked with Elvis and Carl Perkins and pretty much every other successful musician Nashville has ever produced...
I managed to finish off 4 new songs and may still complete one more before I head home tomorrow.
We'll be starting to pre-produce the songs with the band as soon as I get home and we'll hit the studio shortly thereafter.

Great shows

Just got home after seeing two fantastic shows:
Andrea House and then Smashula. Complete dichotomies. But both excellent.
Unfortunately being able to see both meant leaving Andrea's early, which broke my heart because it was so beautiful.
Andrea and Smashula were both releasing their CDs. I strongly suggest you check them out.
I have a big show tomorrow with the band at the Haven Social Club. We're going to be recording the show for eventual release...
I have two shows on Saturday for the Arts on the Ave/Kalideo Festival and then on Sunday, I'm flying to Nashville to do some writing.
I'll be sure to keep you all posted...
J.M.

So if you count the Caribbean as a separate ocean (sea), then I have visited 3 in as many weeks...
First the Pacific for the Edge of the World Music Festival, then the Atlantic for my East Coast tour, which I'll get into later and now... The Caribbean where I am currently hanging out, pen and paper in hand working on tunes for the new record. Don't expect any steel drums...
Great cigars and the rum flows like water. Trust me, you get more hydrated from a bottle of rum here than you do from the tap water...
My east coast tour was a great success. Nick and I managed to finally be in Fredericton and actually have a gig, instead of a dead car. All the shows were excellent but what stood out were the people. Be that the family that let us crash at their house after our gig in Annapolis Royal or the great folks at the Union Street Cafe in Berwick who took us to a fantastic gathering/kitchen party after our set.
I managed to get a few songs written and recorded a demo of one.
Next week, when I get back, I'll start getting together with the band to run new material for our show at the Haven Social Club and for the new record.
Gotta go, time for a swim!

In Halifax, it rains and then stops. And then rains again...

Sitting on the patio of the Economy Shoe Shop, a regular musician/artist haunt here in Halifax.
I arrived this morning at 6:30am, local time. 3:30am, my time.
I've arrived earlier and my touring partner, Nick Perreault is arriving on a 5pm flight...
Needless to say, I have about 10 or so hours to kill in Halifax.
I was in no hurry and next to no sleep to go on so, upon my arrival at Halifax Intl. I found a bench and slept for an hour or so, at which point I was a little more with it and rented a car.
The fog was so thick when we landed, that half the plane gave out a bit of a yelp when we landed, thinking we were still up in the clouds... I was not among the yelpers but don't blame them, as it was a bit of a shock.
So I rented a car and drove in to downtown. As soon as I hit the city limits, it just began pissing rain. I figured I was going to be held up in some cafe for the duration of my layover. But it let up, just as I parked the car and I was able to get out and go for a bit of an exploration. As luck would have it, I parked right beside the Alexander Keith's Brewery building which also is the home of the local farmer's/artisan market.
Truly an amazing spectacle. The building was packed with shoppers feasting on the plethora of incredible products and edibles. It dwarfed the Edmonton Farmer's Market in comparison.
I settled on a breakfast wrap, which was sauteed up, right in front of me with my choice of veggies and meats. Best $5 I've ever spent on a breakfast wrap.
At this point, all the excitement had taken whatever reserves my 1 hour airport nap had provided and it was time to go back to sleep. Besides, the rain had started up again so I drove up to the Halifax Citadel, the 200+ year old fortress in central Halifax.
I parked the car and slept for another 2 hours. I awoke inspired and began jotting down lyrics for my next #1 hit...
Keep your ears peeled when the next album comes out, you may just hear a few Halifax references in a tune which, at the moment is called, "Canadian Summers".
Time to go get Nick and make the 2 hour drive to our first gig...

Driving and more driving

Just returned from the beautiful Queen Charlotte Islands.
Dave and I were playing the Edge of the World Festival.
We drove 1500 kms to Prince Rupert, got on a 6 hour ferry and arrived on the pristine island where we were greeted by our excellent billet hosts, Pat and Lucy.
We had a bit of a scare on our drive to Prince Rupert when we caught a rock in the windshield. Now this is a fairly common occurrence except that this chip made such a huge bang when it hit, I had ringing in my ears... The result was a massive spiderweb smash in the middle of my window. So hard that you can feel the crack on the inside of the window...
We were treated to local hospitality. This included a small army of a dozen or so people searching the island for diesel when we went exploring the island on an empty tank...
There were plenty of gas stations, just none with diesel. Oh, except the one that was closed...
We played a short set on Sunday to an appreciative crowd. Couldn't help but think that we would have gone over better at this particular festival if we were playing with the full band. Here's hoping we get the chance to do that next year!
The drive home was extreme to say the least. We got on the ferry at 9am, arrived in Prince Rupert at 6pm and drove straight home through the night arriving in Edmonton this morning at 10am. Now I'm off to play at the Druid open stage tonight...
Then bed.

Craziness....

Phew....
This summer seems to be flying by!
I've been zigging and zagging across the country with no end in sight.
The day that we flew out to Toronto to play with Spirit of the West at the Horseshoe, we found out that the new record, In Transit, was nominated for THREE Western Canadian Music Awards; Outstanding Pop Album, Album design and Video of the Year for Transportation!
In case you're wondering where you can find the video, we haven't released it yet but it will be coming soon so keep an eye out for it on YouTube.
This year's WCMA's will be held in my adopted home town of Edmonton from Oct 16 to 19. Congrats to all the other nominees.
Check the website or click here for pictures of the craziness at the Horseshoe.
If you're on the East coast, mark you calendar for the last half of August as I will be out there on tour for a handful of shows.
Thanks for tuning in!

Trailers, Planes and Automobiles

Just returned from the Whatshan Lake Music Festival where we payed three nights.
It was a beautiful area. One of the few parts of Canada I have not been to; the Nakusp/Nelson area in S.E. British Columbia.
To get there, we drove to Calgary and then took the Trans-Canada to Revelstoke where we got on the beautiful-but-more-driveway-than-highway #23.
We had to get on two separate ferries both of them crossing the massive, Columbia Lake/River.
Needless to say it was remote and with no cell coverage... well... remote...
But we were emersed in great music and sunshine. We were able to get out on the lake and do a little fishing. Dave, out keyboard player had never caught a fish so it was doubly sweet when he caught two (we threw them both back).
It was a pleasure hanging out with the members of the Salmon Armenians who were also playing the festival.
We rented a little camping trailer to stay in while we were at the festival and that made the trip a whole lot more comfortable. Although traveling at under 80kms/hr on the up hills of the highway, pulling a trailer made the going pretty slow.
The day after we arrived back home, I had the pleasure of playing a show with Ken Tizzard. The former Watchmen and Thornley bass player has just released his second solo cd "Lost in Awe". It was produced by John Whynot. John and I worked together on a few recordings in several capacities.
The show itself was a small but very appreciative crowd and we were satisfied that it was a success.
August is bringing more traveling. A lot more.
First I will be flying with the band out to Toronto for one night playing at the Horseshoe, opening for Spirit of the West.
Join the mailing list and you can qualify to win a pair of tickets to that show.
As soon as we return from that, Dave and I are off the the Queen Charlotte Islands in B.C. to play the Edge of the World Festival.
And as if that weren't enough, I then will be traveling to the East Coast to play a handful of dates out there with my friend Nick Perreault.
Hope to see you all out there on the trail!

What a great couple of days!
We arrived in Banff to 31 degrees and not a cloud in the sky.
The Spirit of The West guys were just finishing up their sound check when we arrived and were introduced. What a great group of people!
Air Canada lost their bass on the way into Calgary so they kindly asked our bassist, Darcy if they could borrow his bass. Darcy naturally said yes and was honoured to see his bass up there on stage with such a great band!
The audience was packed in to the beautiful outdoor amphetheatre and were a real pleasure to play for.
Congratulations to Natalie Hamilton from Edmonton who won the tickets to the concert through the contest we held through our mailing list. If your name isn't on it yet, make sure you join! You could be the next winner! But you have to join the mailing list in order to win!!!! Click here to join the mailing list.
A day later we found ourselves again playing outside and we were lucky enough to be able to play the patio series at Sherwood Park's Festival Place.
It was a sold out crowd and a pleasure to play for. Opening the night was Andrea House nad her band who wowed the crowd and certainly forced us to be on our "A" game!

Looking forward to the show tomorrow.
The weather is supposed to be excellent and considering its going to bo an outdoor concert... Even better!
I just played bass for a couple shows with my friendNick Perreault. I love playing bass and don't get enough opportunities to play it. I actually played bass before I played guitar.
We are off to Banff tomorrow morning. We have to leave fairly early in order to make it in time for our soundcheck. We'll be opening for Spirit of the West.
We're all pretty happy about the gig. Nathan is still awaiting the arrival of his second child, due any minute now so in his place will be our former guitarist, Peter Belec.
Peter is a great player and we're looking forward to playing another show with him.
Congrats to Natalie Hamilton who won our contest for a pair of tickets to the concert.
Natalie has lived in Alberta for almost 10 years and has never been to the mountains plus she proved that she was in-fact a pretty excellent and die-hard fan.
Best of luck to all of you on the next contest!

Big News!

Just finished playing the opening show at this year's Works Festival. It couldn't have been a more beautiful day. The sun was shining and many fine folks came out over their lunch hour to check out our set.
After the set Chris, (drums) and I headed over to the remote location that CKUA had set up where we played a couple songs acoustically and had a great interview with Monica Miller on her show "How I Hear It".
As soon as the interview was complete, I received a text from my manager, Karen, confirming a gig we've been working on; Opening for SPIRIT OF THE WEST!!!!!
If you can't tell, I'm pretty excited.
We'll be playing Sunday, June 29th at the Banff Centre for the Arts, in Banff, Alberta.
Keep a close watch on the tour dates section of the website as we may have a few more surprises up our sleeves....