Colin James - Find My Home

(click on title to hear the song. I haven't figured out how to embed yet)

Many a year ago, while still living in Winnipeg, I had the great pleasure of seeing Colin James play at the Times Change cafe. This was a few years after the “Sudden Stop” album was released, I believe during the Bad Habits tour. He had just played Sunfest, an outdoor music festival, was visiting his old friend Big Dave MacLean, a Winnipeg blues legend. (I have a vague recollection of Colin being presented with some sort of life time acheivement award but I could be wrong).

Anyway, after Big Dave played a set, a tired Colin James came to the stage and accepted the presentation. Even though he had just played a full set at Sunfest, they convinced him to pick up a guitar a play some old blues standards with the band. Words can't describe what I heard. Despite his tiredness, Colin ripped into theses blues numbers with the full force of someone who has a passion for the art. My exposure to blues was somewhat limited up to that point, Colin James being the most I'd ever listened to. But hearing it live and raw in a sweaty little bar on main street opened my eyes to the diversity and power that the blues has. Hearing the passion and the skill displayed gave me a new appreciation for the genre. Here's a great example by Tommy Emmanuel...



It also exposed me to a musicians like Big Dave, who could very easily have sold out and made a commercial record, but kept to his roots and played what he loved. I wouldn't say it was a turning point in my deeper love of music, but it was a contributing factor.

“Find My Home” is off of Colin's 12th studio album “Rooftops and Satellites”, released in 2009. It's slow, almost classic Colin James song, reminding me of his earliest work on his debut and “Sudden Stop” albums. Solid blues licks, gentle saxophone and lyrics about finding your way (duh... it's in the title). An argument could be made that it's not classic Colin James but classic blues with a Colin James “pop” twist to it.

Always a consistent artist, Colin James has been able to push blues into the mainstream Pop world while still keeping to it's roots. “Sudden Stop” will always be a classic canadian rock album for me, but Bad Habits and National Steel should be required learning for anyone wanting an introduction to blues.