Guitarist and songwriter Jamie James has a new solo album out and a long history of playing with some legendary musical artists.

Music Matters with Darrell Craig Harris

Darrell Craig Harris

Music, Music Commentary, Music Interviews

3.4 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 6 August 2025

⏱️ 33 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Jamie James is a songwriter and musician who has been making music his whole life, and this Spring, he released his debut solo album, Straight Up, recorded with some longtime bandmates. James has always been into the blues and blues rock, and he's known for his work with Dennis Quaid & The Sharks, longtime collaborations with the late Harry Dean Stanton, and as the frontman of the '80s rockabilly trio The Kingbees. Rejoined with friends Tom Walsh (drums), Ken Stange (organ), and Tom Mancillas (bass), James took a group of songs that he wrote during the pandemic while recovering from open heart surgery to Kitten Robot Studio in Los Angeles. They recorded the ten songs on Straight Up live in the studio in one day only, capturing their years of experience playing together for the album. As an artist now in his 70s, James has a lifetime of perspective to bring not only to his songwriting, but to how he makes and records music, and the big lessons seem to be: Stay creative, stick to what you love, and make music with the people who bring you energy to do more. I spoke to Jamie James about his approach to Straight Up and his love for the blues. Pleased check out his latest release on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/artist/6HyO3Bh4rQJUI9bewsdbtr?si=rR_GScFNS06I_BT5BwSL8w About Music Matters with Darrell Craig Harris The Music Matters Podcast is hosted by Darrell Craig Harris, a globally published music journalist, professional musician, and Getty Images photographer. Music Matters is now available on Spotify, iTunes, Podbean, and more. Each week, Darrell interviews renowned artists, musicians, music journalists, and insiders from the music industry. Visit us at: www.MusicMattersPodcast.com Follow us on Twitter: www.Twitter.com/musicmattersdh For inquiries, contact: [email protected] Support our mission via PayPal: www.paypal.me/payDarrell

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Music Matters podcast with Daryl Craig Harris, talking about all things music with celebrities, artists, music business insiders, and more.
0:20.8	Jamie James, how you doing today?
0:22.7	Hey, good to see you, Daryl.
0:23.8	Nice to be here.
0:24.9	Yeah, awesome.
0:25.8	So I was checking out your latest record straight up.
0:28.8	It's been out for a couple of months.
0:30.4	And you have your newest single showbiz bookie's been out.
0:33.7	I think a couple of, was it a couple of weeks?
0:36.2	Yeah, I think it's two or three weeks, yeah. Awesome. So you have an interesting history because you are also the leader in a band called The King Bees, which had a song out called My Mistake, an 80s rockabilly hit. You've also played with Dennis Quaid and the Sharks, Harry Dean Stanton, a lot of folks,
0:56.7	and we were just talking about some of the other blues folks that you played with.
0:57.1	Yeah.
0:59.0	So you've been a very busy guy.
1:00.5	How are you doing these days?
1:02.3	I'm doing great.
1:08.4	I mean, you know, I'm grateful Knock Wood, you know, just to be on this side of the dirt and still playing guitar and singing and loving it, man,
1:12.2	just like I did.
1:16.5	When I first picked up a guitar, I got my first electric in 1966, and the love and enthusiasm for it hasn't changed since then.
1:25.5	Yeah, and that's an awesome place to be, right?
1:27.4	Because a lot of people
1:28.0	don't get don't get a chance to say they love their job that's right yeah that's a good point yeah
1:33.1	yeah we're fortunate i mean i'm a musician as well we were just talking about that before we started and
	...

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