Interview: Colin James Chases The Sun

Interview: Colin James Chases The Sun

By Martine Ehrenclou

Eight-time Juno Award winner Colin James is a multi-platinum contemporary blues rock guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer, beloved the world over. A native of Vancouver, he’s won 31 Maple Blues Awards and collaborated with the who’s who of greats, including Bonnie Raitt, Keith Richards, Albert Collins, Albert King, ZZ Top, The Chieftains, Carlos Santana and Buddy Guy. He’s also been inducted into the Canadian Music Industry Hall of Fame.

Colin James’ new album Chasing the Sun features legendary artists Charlie Musselwhite, Lucinda Williams, Darryl Jones (The Rolling Stones, Miles Davis, and Sting), and Charley Drayton (Rolling Stones, Miles Davis, Neil Young, Sting, Paul Simon and Johnny Cash.)

Co-produced by Colin James and Colin Linden, Chasing the Sun may be his best release yet, a blend of blues, rock, and Americana music with deep rooted soulfulness and well crafted melodies. One of the most engaging artists of our time, he is a musician’s musician and a remarkable songwriter.

Colin talked with me by phone from his home in Vancouver.

Rock & Blues Muse
I really enjoyed your new album. Tell me where the title Chasing the Sun comes from.

Colin James
I quoted Chasing the Sun from the lyric of the last song on the CD—it’s an atmospheric, heavily drenched in reverb song. (Singing) “When we were born, when the earth was young, we chased the sun, we chased the sun.” I was just quoting the lyric in that case. I also ride my bicycle a lot, right? I’m always chasing the last rays of sun to go out to the edge of the ocean. I live in Vancouver, so often I’ll bike at 4:30, 5:00 at night knowing I got an hour and a half, two hours more of daylight, and I head towards the ocean. And it’s a beautiful seafront highway I could drive on. So, chasing the sun is something that I do daily.

Rock & Blues Muse
What was it like singing with Lucinda Williams on her original song “Protection” on your album?

Colin
My background with her was car wheels on a gravel road. I remember pulling my car over and going, ‘who is this? And then I got to see her live with her band here in Vancouver in a little 1,000 seat show, and it was just so good. And then over the years I’ve met her. Colin Linden my co-producer has had a longstanding friendship with her.

Lucinda came over for dinner one night as we were tracking, and of course we had Charley Drayton and Darryl Jones on the rhythm section. She came over with her husband and one thing led to another. We told her what song we were doing, and she came back the next day and sang on the whole thing. It was just incredible. I’m a big fan. I have so much respect, just for her song craft and longevity and the whole nine yards.

Rock & Blues Muse
You’ve been good friends with Colin Linden for a long time. How does it work with co-producing and writing songs with him?

Colin
He’s a very natural producer in the Daniel Lanois style. Get the room sounding good, get the drums and the bass sounding great and just go from there. He keeps it pretty organic. We made a record called National Steel back in 1995 or 1996 where I did all Bukka White and Muddy Waters and Mose Allison and stuff like that. I put out a record with him that really was well-received, and it got me playing folk festivals and getting out of my norm because I came out of blues rock in the early days of my career. And then of course, there’s the Little Big Band phase too. Colin and I go back to when I was 13 and he was 16. That’s when he and I met. This is our sixth record together. We’re almost like brothers. I know the reverence Colin has for the music and the deep knowledge he has of the music. His studio on the back of his house has etchings of Bukka White and Jelly Roll Morton. It’s a very conducive place to get creative.

Rock & Blues Muse
Your song “I’m Still Alive” sounds like it might be about your career. Is it?

Colin
Yeah, I think it is. When you’re growing up and you’re first starting to play a lot, there’s a lot of naysayers and a lot of people saying, “Oh, good luck not finishing high school.”

When you manage to forge all these years with always playing and being that kind of player, you’re very grateful at the end of the day. I write with my friend Tom Wilson– Tom and I wrote “Freedom” as a song on a record I put out that Mavis Staples sang with me on in 1995. And we’ve written probably 38 songs together. I always go back writing with him because I’ve done the thing where you go meet people that you’ve never written with. I’ve found over the years that it’s daunting and often not successful. Me and Tom know our foibles and know our OCD-ness. He’s got a great mind. He’s a wonderful writer, and we always end up with something cool.

Rock & Blues Muse
How do you choose your covers for your albums? Do they hit you in a personal way or you just love the songs?

Colin
Various ways. Years ago, I had a bit of a hit up here with “Into the Mystic,” the Van Morrison song. It was on a record of mine called Limelight. I just loved it. Someone came up to me after doing that song in a sound check. I was just doing it for a laugh, really. Somebody came up and said, “You got to do that.” We ended up having a smash with it, and no one expected it. It came out of nowhere. Sometimes you just can love it. Just because you love it doesn’t mean that you’ll be able to add anything to it. It was a bit of fluke.

Rock & Blues Muse
Your song, “How it Feels to be Loved” is beautiful. You wrote it with Tom Wilson. It seems like you were going for a bit of crossover. Is that what you had in mind?

Colin
I sure hope so. Wouldn’t that be great, but not consciously. That song was the last thing we did on a three-song day. Some of the people that were in our group left, so we were down to me, my keyboard player, Jesse, and Tom. It was nice because the room was simplified a little bit. I love a ballad, and I love a love song.

This is going to be mushy, but my daughter was getting married last September, and I had just written a song. I had flown back to Vancouver, and it had this little Al Green sax vibe thing. My wife and my daughter heard it, and they said, “Oh, you got to sing it at the wedding.”

Rock & Blues Muse
Did you?

Colin
Yeah. I was nervous as hell because it needs horns, and it’s got that cool beat. I just fumbled my way through the bridge and through everything. The good news was I got through it and it’s now my daughter’s wedding song. There’s another reference point in the back of the song. I used to know Jerry Williams, who was a fantastic singer-songwriter from Tulsa. He’s the one who wrote “Running On Faith” for Eric Clapton. And he wrote “No Alibis” for Clapton. He wrote, “Giving It Up for Your Love.” He’s deceased now. And at the end of the song, I referenced the song that he wrote, “Turn Around and Look and There’ll Be Love.” And I sang, “Turn Around and Look and There’ll Be Love” at my wedding to my wife 33 years ago. I referenced that in the song, so it always hits my wife because it’s our wedding song. I know how hard it is to write a simple love song– keep it simple, and keep the words simple. I hope we did that.

Rock & Blues Muse
Would you say that blues is where your heart is, or rock, or Americana? Because when I listen to songs like “Open Your Mind,” your acoustic blues are so soulful and that seems to come from a deep place.

Colin
When I write, usually it has a bit more of a contemporary nature to it. But I do love the writing process, so I listen to all kinds of music, for sure. Like a good, rocking Keith Richards record or a well-crafted AC/DC song. I listen to a lot of Radiohead, which might not be everyone’s cup of tea. I like Macy Gray once in a while or Al Green. I like all kinds of stuff. But my heart’s always with the blues. I love a soulful song.

Rock & Blues Muse
Is there anybody you’d like to record or perform with who you haven’t yet?

Colin
I have been so lucky that way. I’ve maintained a friendship with Bonnie Raitt over the years. She sang on my second record. Mavis Staples sang on a record of mine. I knew Albert Collins and I got to play with Stevie (Ray Vaughan) and Albert. And I got to play a show with Albert King years ago. I guess there’s more to come down the line. Ry Cooder, I’ve never had a chance to actually sit down and play with him. I named my son after Ry Cooder. My son’s name is Ry, Ryland.

For more information on Colin James and his new record Chasing the Sun see HERE

*Colin James was involved in a motor vehicle accident. He is recovering well. He has had to cancel some of his tour dates.  For tour dates see HERE

“How It Feels To Be Loved”