Beginnings: Jeff James started singing at 6 in a church choir and performed his first 'solo' at 7 in a Christmas play in his small hometown of New London, MN. Around the age of 16 his pastor borrowed him a classical guitar to get him started. He began learning songs from Waylon Jennings, James Taylor, John Denver, and even Pink Floyd. Along with a friend Jeff would rehearse in front of huge 'invisible' audiences and they were eventually involved in a group dubbed 'Black Waters' playing a few local clubs and performing in front of their 1st real crowd of around 1500 people at their town's annual summer festival. Career: Over the course of the next 7 years he toured extensively full time as frontman with Country Rock Band "Genuine Leather and Lace". They performed the A and B club circuits in the 6 state upper Midwest. He also performed 2 years with another Country Rock Band "KeyStone" Sharing the stage with many major artists, and acknowledged as 2nd best country rock band in Minnesota Battle of the Bands. In the midst of both bands, he kept up with several solo acoustic performances which he used to display his own music. Nashville In 1998 he moved to Nashville to pursue the true and trying business end of music. Over the course of the past 6 years of performing and networking he has released 4 CD's independently with the majority of the material being original. He's sold over 1500 units online and in clubs via his Web Site at www.jeffjamesmusic.com. Over the last 5 years Jeff James has been and continues to entertain locals and tourists consistently 3-4 nights a week downtown Nashville and the Opryland Hotel Area. Performing covers and his own songs from a list of over 350 songs drawing inspiration from such related genre artists as David Wilcox, John Gorka, and earlier artists like Taylor, Denver, Dylan, Baez, and Lightfoot. Most recently was asked to perform on America's 2nd longest running radio show, The Midnite Jamboree, where he performed alongside Dale Watson. The New Release: Two Hands The "Two Hands" Project, his current CD release dated August 7th 2004(hard date) is the most ambitious project yet, having recorded, produced, engineered, and edited the entire album himself, a job that has taken up the last 2 years.. With a heart that's always swung in the Folk genre, James feels that the material on this balum will be able to stand up on it's own within the diverse genre of Folk/Americana. James was also finally able to take advantage of a few songs performed in an open tuning (DADF#AD being his favorite) and record them along with a sundry of themes and sounds including a Tribute song to The Mother of the Civil Rights Movement, 91 year old Rosa Parks and a blazing instrumental dubbed "Blaine the Mono" after The King penned "Dark Tower" series. Personal Quote: "I've played all sorts of places from parks, street corners, college house parties, churches, bars, restaurants, resorts, casinos, street dances, fairs, and music festivals, and one constant I look for is the reaction I get from a person or a group. Good, bad, or otherwise-if I can achieve a smile, look of surprise, or even a tear, from the songs I've written or performed, I feel I've succeeded in reaching people through music." - Jeff James Review of the 1999 CD "Life's Song" "Jeff James' 'Life's Song' is a mellow, easy-listening CD which is perfect for those times when one needs to kick back and take a load off. The musical and vocal stylings suggest influences from some popular 70s and 80s singer/songwriters, such as James Taylor, Arlo Guthrie and Randy Van Warmer. Particularly, "Warm Water" is reminiscent of Taylor's "Fire and Rain." Unlike many songs from that era, however, 'Life's Song' is just that -- songs about real life, and topical issues such as abuse, neglect, as well as the ever-popular one on relationships. James' mellifluous voice flows over a person like, well, warm water ... quite pleasant." Carlene Dean - Kandiyohi Times