Colin James - 2009

Colin James, born Colin James Munn on August 17, 1964, in Regina, Saskatchewan, is a Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer, who plays in the blues, rock, and neo-swing genres.
During his early years Colin was introduced to different kinds of music by his parents who loved to go to coffee houses and music festivals. It wasn’t long before he picked up a guitar.
From the prairies of Saskatchewan where he was raised as a Quaker, to sharing the stage with arguably the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time, such as Keith Richards, George Thorogood and John Lee Hooker,  he still remembers the words of advice given to him by the late, great, Stevie Ray Vaughan. “I’m opening doors for you –walk through them.”
Looking back on a career that now spans two decades, Colin has walked through more than just a few doors to reach the level of success that he enjoys today.
Early in his career, James and his band The Hoodoo Men opened for Stevie Ray Vaughan on several tour dates in the U.S.
In 1988, following his association with Vaughan, James released his self-titled debut album, which yielded several international hit singles, as did the followup Sudden Stop.
He presaged the mid-1990s swing music revival with his Colin James and the Little Big Band project, which released a successful first CD in 1993, followed by two others in 1998 and 2006.
James’s worldwide popularity waned somewhat in the late 1990s, but he continued to release albums in rock, blues, and acoustic styles, in addition to his Little Big Band. In 2005, he gave a command performance for Queen Elizabeth during her visit to his home province of Saskatchewan.
The list of performers and recording artists with which he has worked and collaborated is a who’s who of global stars such as Bonnie Raitt, Albert Collins,  Robert Cray, Luther Allison, Albert King, Lenny Kravitz, ZZ Top,  The Chieftains, Carlos Santana, Little Feat, Buddy Guy and many, many others
Between 1989 and 1999 James was nominated for 14 Juno Awards, (The Canadian equivalent of the Grammy’s) winning six of them.
The confidence that comes with maturity can be heard in his voice and seen in his electrifying stage performance. He does what comes naturally…
Source: Wikipedia; www.colinjames.com

Local Essex boy Mark Reed bought his first guitar in 1970 at the age of 12.
Spending his teenage years learning every Shadows, Beatles and Led Zepplin song, on the market it was in his Mid 20’s that he started learning classical guitar.
And it was while playing classical guitar and folk club venues that he was invited to play lead guitar in a blues band gigging around London, Essex, Kent and Suffolk.
He then moved through a series of bands playing everything from country to rock and roll, and 60’s covers, playing bass rhythm and lead guitars.
In his late 30’s he started writing songs and instrumentals for solo performances at acoustic and folk sessions and resumed touring throughout the home counties and London
Mark then started writing and recording more songs and released 4 solo albums, the contents of which came from his solo acoustic repertoire.
Currently  he is engaged in re-recording, most of his back catalogue with an aim to publishing.
This track is from the blues album Whose Blues? Mine!