Whatever happened to the great John Jame

Subject: Whatever happened to the great John Jame
From: GUEST,albert
Date: 20 Sep 07 - 02:09 PM

Subject: RE: Whatever happened to the great John Jame
From: GUEST,albert
Date: 20 Sep 07 - 02:12 PM

During the three years I spent at Barry College in the early 70s John James,the ragtime and folk guitarist, was a frequent visitor and was a magnificent performer,singer and songwriter.Is he still playing?
albert

Subject: RE: Whatever happened to the great John Jame
From: Gurney
Date: 20 Sep 07 - 07:33 PM

The same question came up on a thread some time ago. If I remember correctly, the answer was no.


I just burned his LP to disk. Great performer.

Subject: RE: Whatever happened to the great John Jame
From: GUEST,van lingle
Date: 20 Sep 07 - 08:27 PM

Funny someone on these pages was selling a Fylde which made me think of him and the incredible tone he got out of one. Beside his Kicking Mule solo album and some duets he did with John Renbourn he also added several pieces to a great Kicking Mule album called I Got Rythym where he showed some impressive swing chops.

Subject: RE: Whatever happened to the great John Jame
From: Effsee
Date: 20 Sep 07 - 09:39 PM

Brilliant guitarist, great performer...as a people person, complete arse**le. Insulted a very dear banjoist friend of mine, now deceased, at a late night session in Aberdeen in the '70s.

Subject: RE: Whatever happened to the great John Jame
From: Andy Jackson
Date: 21 Sep 07 - 03:33 AM

Teamed up for a while with Eddie Walker as Carolina Shout. Now that was truly impressive.

Subject: RE: Whatever happened to the great John Jame
From: GUEST,Graham Bradshaw
Date: 21 Sep 07 - 06:10 AM

John and I became firm friends back in the mid-60s, when we were both callow youths starting out. However, he had considerably more talent than me in the digital dexterity department, and the rest as they say is history.

We have always kept in contact, and some years ago, he gave up touring to look after his ageing parents, back in Wales. Teaching guitar became his means of earning a living.

Last time I spoke to him, he was living in semi-retirement, teaching a bit, playing a bit when he felt like it, and was showing absolutely no inclination to go back to touring again.

Best albums:
Sky in my Pie (with Pete Berryman) and probably one of my faves of all time, re-issued by Transatlantic a few years back.
A suitcase shaped like that, sadly no longer available.

Best sound he ever got was on his first guitar, an old Levin, sanded down by John Bailey, action lowered for very light gauge strings.IMHO.

An absolute star, with a killer sense of humour, which not everybody 'got'- possibly the cause of the insulted banjo-player.

Subject: RE: Whatever happened to the great John Jame
From: GUEST,Legal Eagle
Date: 21 Sep 07 - 06:13 AM

Well, you need a special sense of humour to play the banjo too....

Subject: RE: Whatever happened to the great John Jame
From: The Sandman
Date: 22 Sep 07 - 02:36 AM

As an impartial observer,Ihave never met JJ,I will say this, anyone who cares for their ill/aged parents can not be a complete arsehole.
Dick Miles

Subject: RE: Whatever happened to the great John James
From: Mick Tems
Date: 22 Sep 07 - 05:59 AM

Carolina Shout (John and Eddie) were breathtakingly brilliant when they came to Llantrisant Folk Club, just bubbling over with humour, high-voltage energy and sheer musicianship. The last I heard of John, he had gone back to West Wales (Lampeter?), where he was starting to introduce some beautiful Welsh tunes into his repertoire. John is a superb master guitarist with a very weird sense of humour; I know how effsee feels, because John's humour could be very insulting at times. But I'd travel a long, long way just to see him play - and I have a stunning bootleg tape, over 30 years old, of John at Swansea University, too!

Subject: RE: Whatever happened to the great John Jame
From: Betsy
Date: 22 Sep 07 - 06:24 AM

John - a Good Lad .
Great style and technique - IMHO I don't think he should have started tampering with the electric guitar and that sort of Chet Atkins type of music /style . ( Nothing wrong with Chet Atkins music you understand ) , but John was best at what did he did best - on an accoustic guitar. He is a very gentle sort of person , and ever willing to share / join in, an off-beat joke , so the "insult" that someone referred to earlier , doesn't sound like him , but maybe an ill-timed attempt to be dry and witty on the wrong occasion . I've ( we've ??) been there myself so unfortunately I know how it can happen.
Maybe success came a bit early for John especially headlining Cambridge in his early years. Other than that I can't think of anything bad to say about John , nor his partner-in-crime for many years ,the bubbly and affable Eddie Walker.