Edmonton Sun
February 25, 2006
By Yuri Wuensch

MAIN EVENT: COLIN JAMES BAND
IN THE SEATS: 1,716 AT WINSPEAR
LOWDOWN BLUES SO GOOD, YOU COULDN'T HELP BUT SMILE.
RATING: 4.5 OUT OF 5

Colin James, the young rock star who's gracefully becoming Canada's blues king, wowed the packed and appreciative house Thursday night at the Winspear Centre.

The blues have, of course, long been a facet of James's sound - he's been strumming them since his teens. While the blues aren't generally a staple of rock radio, it's been his infusion of bluesy riffs and lyricism into rocking hits like Keep On Loving Me Baby, Voodoo Thing and Just Came Back - all performed Thursday - that's gained him stardom in both genres.

Hearing those three tunes in particular makes you realize how engrained James's music has been in the fabric of Canadian rock for, wow, nearly 20 years now. His self-titled debut was released in 1988 and his back catalogue can't go ignored by classic rock stations.

Now in his early 40s, there's a strange potency to watching and hearing James play these days. He's still got enough youthful vitality to leap from the stage and bound up auditorium aisles, and he's only bound to get better with age, not unlike fine wine.

Right now, he's sort of straddling the line between being a spry rock 'n' roll hero and becoming a venerated blues god. In both respects, he's a consummate performer. Say as much to Colin Linden, who opened for James, and you're preaching to the choir.

James and Linden have been friends since their teens, a time when their blues might have been a little green. The Toronto/New York-raised Linden, who now calls Nashville home, even produced James's latest album, Limelight, which was released last year.

Linden looks the way a bluesman is supposed to look: scruffy, grizzled, maybe even a little unkempt. But he's also got that requisite easygoing charm, a ready smile and real warmth in performance. Chatting with the crowd, he name-dropped hallowed greats like Aretha, Otis, Sam & Dave and Elvis - and Linden's music more than held up to those icons.

If there was a sour note to Linden's set, it's that it was too short at a mere 30 minutes. (When Linden comes to Edmonton again, he's worth catching all on his own.) In that time, he made three guitar changes, the best being the dobro, a guitar with a metal resonator disc inside. When he played Big Mouth on it, there were - appropriately enough - audible gasps heard from people sitting behind me.

Anyone sitting close enough to the stage was stupefied - or at least should have been - at the intricacy of Linden's finger work and picking. Boy, can he play!

Thinking of his missus back home, Linden also played the title track from his latest album, Easin' Back to Tennessee.

Not to be outdone by Linden's three guitars in 30 minutes, James switched up three guitars over his first three songs when he and the Colin James Band finally took to the stage.

James - along with players on sax, trumpet, keys, drums, bass, guitar and, happily welcomed back on stage, Linden - opened with Turn Your Lights Down, Better Way to Heaven and a cover of Bob Dylan's Watching the River Flow.

The hurts-so-good ache continued through more numbers from Limelight, including On My Way Back to You, Weeping Willow Tree and a cover of Van Morrison's Into the Mystic.

James sold them all with those pained, blues-channelling expressions and absolutely superb play. He said Edmonton marked the band's 27th or 28th tour date - he couldn't remember - but if they were road-weary, you'd never have known it.

I eventually lost track of how often James and Linden would change up their guitars over the course of more than 2 1/2 hours of performance, which included two encores coaxed by standing ovations. Reasonably, you might assume the varying guitars each offered its own unique sound. I'm more inclined to think the changeups happened because their smoking play made the strings too hot to handle.

Yep, it was that good.