Southern Alberta’s premiere rock and roll show returns next week to Taber, as Cornstock features a stellar lineup, including headliners Streetheart, Big Wreck and Colin James.
James is a Canadian multi-award-winning blues-rock singer and songwriter with 21 studio albums, eight Juno Awards and 31 Maple Blues Awards.
His 1988 self-titled debut, featuring his two self-penned hits Voodoo Thing and Five Long Years was the fastest-selling album in Canadian history. His second album, Sudden Stop, featured his hit Just Came Back, which earned him the Juno Award for Single of the Year.
James was next credited with launching the swing revival, thanks to his wildly popular Little Big Band, which has released four successful albums to-date.
In 2013, he was inducted into the Canadian Music Industry Hall of Fame.
However, it wasn’t until 2016’s Blue Highways that James found himself on a blues chart, and landed him one of his biggest hits, Riding in the Moonlight.
In 2024, James was appointed to the Order of British Columbia for his contributions to shaping performance.
With the upcoming Taber show, James will be bringing a five-piece band. “It’s more of a rockin’ outfit.”
James was out on the road in the United States and previously in Canada with a trio. “For me, it’s going to be fun this summer to get back on my feet. With the trio, we sit down. I love the shows and I have a great time, but it’ll be great to get rockin’ and playin’ some shows this summer.”
In the fall, James heads over to Europe in October and November, and he’s releasing a memoir in September.
He’s also a new grandpa. “My daughter had a baby boy, so that’s been very exciting for us.”
The book has been more than four years in the making, James noted.
“I never had any big desire to write a book. I realized over the years there were a lot of stories I would tell. A friend of mine, Tom Wilson, wrote a book a few years back. It kind of planted a seed, and here we go,” he shared. “It’s essentially a memoir starting from when I was born in Regina in 1964. It’s more about family and the upbringing in Saskatchewan, more than it is about the career. However, it takes me all the way up until the very first record when I got signed to Virgin Records America.”
According to James, it was a real treat to write the book and forced him to get really straight with the facts about where his family is from and how it all unfolded. “It was a trip writing a book. The hardest thing is making sure you’ve got the facts right. You’ve got to double check with newspapers. It was a good experience.”
“I found out I kind of enjoy writing. I enjoy getting a paragraph and a sentence and a chapter in shape. I had someone helping me through the process who’s well-versed in publishing, and he was invaluable to me. Jared Bland was my co-writer. He was good at knowing how to keep a chapter hanging, so you want to flip the page,” he explained.
Writing a book has even helped James with composing social media posts. “I find all the writing I did over the last five or six years has really helped me with my grammar and how I set up a sentence, so it was all good.”
James will also be recording the audio book and will embark on a book tour after the release.
After the book tour, James said he will be going out on the road for a tour with Colin Linden. “Just doing solo, me and him, telling stories and playing songs without a band.”
James is also trying to tour in Europe once again, as he had a pretty good following in Sweden when he was younger. “I kind of let it go over the years. Last year, an agency got ahold of me.”
During the summer James gets to run into some old friends with music festivals throughout Canada. “I love it. Summer festival season is always a gas and everyone’s out to have a good time and enjoy the summer.”
Cornstock runs July 23-25 with James headlining Saturday night.
For a full list of performers, dates and times, visit online at spiderentertainment.ca.
(Photo submitted by James O’ Mara)
