Mike James Music - Biography
I - Early Rock Years
An accomplished New York area "Performing Songwriter", Mike James has never yielded to artistic boundaries. Growing up playing in a string of experimental and cover rock bands, after dropping out of Art School, the lead guitarist with natural vocal abilities was steadily pushed to front the bands he connected with. After years in the Northern Illinois Rock Scene, it was surprisingly a move to New York and the tragic loss of his sister, a gifted country influenced "Folk Singer", that triggered the aspiring songwriter's interest in a newly evolving "Edgy" mid-eighties country movement.
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II - "The Mike James Band" Identifying more with "Hardcore" country artist like Dwight Yoakam and other less visible players gaining recognition surprisingly in California "Punk Rock" circuits than with Glitzy Nashville artists, James, a long time fan of traditional country artists like Hank Williams and George Jones, created the "Mike James Band", comprised over the years of numerous combinations of the New York areas top Country and Rock players. For over a decade the Mike James Band sought out and played "Hardcore" Country Venues throughout the Northeast. |
III - Mike James, "Performing Songwriter"
Dampened by the onslaught of "Big Dollar" commercialism lead by the arrival of Garth Brooks and an army of clones, James began to slowly withdraw from a musical scene that was taking the appearance of "Pop Music" sung by football players with cowboy hats and Models with digitally enhanced vocal performances! Country Music, at least coming out of Nashville, was no longer the honest and genuine musical genre that lured the songwriter and performer away from the Rootsy Rock of his youth.
With no diminished passion for Songwriting, retreating to a rural New York recording studio to begin work on a second full length album, an "Americana" influenced package titled, "Café" while simultaneously recording a number of newly penned "Folk Rock" originals in a Home Recording Studio, Mike James was once again looking for a musical landscape with purity and authenticity. The New York area "Acoustic Music Scene" was gaining momentum with an increasing number of more intimate venues allowing Performing Songwriters and Music Lovers to connect and enjoy genuine, original American Music.
That's where you'll find Mike James these days!
Come in and listen!