Winnipeg Free Press
February 14, 2006
By Rob Williams

Colin James hopes his new album Limelight will help him step back into Winnipeg's spotlight.

The guitarist/singer may have started his performing career here, but he's fallen off the local musical map in the past few years and didn't even play Winnipeg while touring to support his 2003 effort Traveler. It's not like he's trying to maintain a low profile, but his latest musical endeavours don't follow what's being hyped these days, he says.

"I hate to say it, but I think it's kind of directly related to a little bit of a fight with radio over there. They're more aggressive rock stations, so it's hard for me to get played there. I don't think they played anything off Traveler," says the Vancouver-based musician.

His old hits ‘Voodoo Thing’, ‘Just Came Back’ and ‘Five Long Years’ are still in regular rotation on some local stations, but his new material has slipped between the cracks.

James, 41, has fallen into a trap that often trips maturing artists as their styles evolve. Fans who were attracted to the blues-rock hits on his first two albums jumped ship when he suddenly shifted gears to release a big band swing record in 1993.

When he returned to form on 1995's Bad Habits, the musical landscape had changed and many of his former fans had moved on. The ones who stuck around -- like the sold-out crowd who will be at Cowboys tomorrow -- have heard a second big band album, a gradual softening of his hard blues edge and the emergence of more soulful material.

"That's kind of where I've been going, in a contemporary way, to see what happens. I'm trying to find that balance of contemporary soul with a blues element because that's how I sing my vocals and chord changes," he says.

The blues is in James's blood and he will never completely abandon it, but his music tastes have changed since he was a teenager in Regina soaking up the sounds of Robert Johnson and John Lee Hooker. These days he is more likely to be listening to Sarah Harmer, Kathleen Edwards or Van Morrison, whose ‘Into the Mystic’ he covers on Limelight.

To help recreate the album, James is touring with a two-person horn section and blues vet Colin Linden, who produced the record and opens the show with a set of his own. Craig Northey of The Odds is also in his band, but has another show tomorrow and won't be in Winnipeg.

A warning for those who show up expecting to hear the early hits: James won't be performing many of the Canrock staples from the early part of his career.

"I'm not relying on old hits and going through the motions. I think the new records are better than the first two ones. I'm not sentimental about them anymore. I don't want to sound ungrateful -- God knows it's hard enough to get a song to stick, so you're happy about it -- but you want to move on," he says.

"I think the music's gotten way better now and I'm just embarking on being a singer and performer, that's how I feel. When you're in your 20s, you're screaming your guts out and your voice sounds like helium.

"But I still like hearing the songs at a hockey game. When I hear ‘Voodoo Thing’ at a Vancouver Canucks game it's nice to hear."