Hello out there in cyberland,
A little update is in order I'm sure. I've been getting ready to record for a while and have been writing songs with my good friend Tom Wilson out in Hamilton as well as others. We'll be recording here in Vancouver at the Warehouse starting in May, with a release date of late September 2009. Mike Fraser is engineering fresh off the new AC/DC recording and I'm pumped about that. The band will consist of the usual CJ suspects and I can't wait to get at it!

If you're in Vancouver, keep your spidy senses sharp as there will be a small venue, filmed performance of new songs from the release recorded for CBC radio and TV, sometime in July.

Summer seems to finally be on it's way, thank heaven.

Anyway..... guess that's about it for now... more to come, soon.

Take care,
Colin James

Hello out there in cyber land!

I will start by apologizing for not saying anything for so long. I'll be the first to admit that keeping up with the sites and blogging is not really my thing. We've had a surprisingly nice November out here in Vancouver as by now we usually would have had hurricane type winds that would topple tree tops and sheer roofs.

Bonnie Raitt came to Vancouver at the end of August and she was unbelievably good as usual. She got me up on both nights and I played and sang on a couple of songs a night so I was in heaven. What a class act she is in every way. The band is also top notch of course and it was great to see my friend Hutch (he played bass on Bad Habits) again.

I went to see Van Morrison at the Hollywood Bowl a couple of weeks ago where he did two sets , the second being dedicated to Astral Weeks. Every song on the record. This was taped for a future DVD .

It was great and my good friend Bob Ruggiero (Bob was out with the Little Big Band and played on LBB 3) holding down the drum chair for Van. Met some of the band including his long time Bass player David Hayes.

While down there I met with a engineer/producer named Ed Cherney and it looks like we will be working on the next project together. He has worked and mixed Eric Clapton(Tears in Heaven) and the Crossroads project, Bonnie Raitt (Nick Of Time and Luck of the Draw) as well as a couple of Jann Arden records so we are now working towards that recording.

Saw Little Feat at the House of Blues on Sunset on a Sunday night and it was great to re-connect with them as we toured together years ago. Ritchie Hayward was kicking on the drums as usual.

Our family has a new puppy arriving in 2 weeks and we are extremely excited about that !

Hope you all have a peaceful and fun Holiday season and hopefully we'll talk sooner this next time.

In Memory of Jeff Healey
Jeff was an amazing talent. A one of a kind player who challenged the norms to become one the best in the world in his genre.

My heart goes out to his family in this tough time. His presence will be missed here in Canada and around the world.

I cherish the memory of those early days when he and I were just starting to branch out on our musical paths and everything was ahead of us. These were very exciting times.

If you ever wondered if someone was born to be a musician I think that answer is in the life of Jeff Healey.

Colin Strikes Gold
In December 2007, Colin was presented a Gold Record for his Maple Music released album Limelight. Shown here at the top of the CN Tower in Toronto, the presentation took place during his live, on-air performance on EZ Rock 97.3 FM.

Colin kicked off 2008 by winning 3 Toronto Blues Society Awards. He took home awards for Entertainer of the Year, Electric Act of the Year and Recording of the Year for The Little Big Band 3. Photos courtesy of the Toronto Blues Society and Greg King.