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Supplied photo<\/p>\n
Colin James\u2019s memoir, Playing the Changes: A Musician\u2019s Memoir launches at McNally Robinson Booksellers Grant Park Thursday.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
But once he put his mind to writing Playing the Changes, he found it to be an enjoyable experience. \u201cSometimes on a flight, I\u2019d just open up my laptop and I would just go. And next thing you know, four hours have gone by, and I\u2019m not ready to get off the plane, because I\u2019m so lost in the writing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rather than cover his time as a major player on the Canadian music scene of the 1980s, \u201990s and beyond, James and his publishers decided to keep the focus on his early years.<\/p>\n
Born to Quaker parents who were involved in the local folk\/bluegrass scene, once James (then Colin Munn; James is his middle name) caught the music bug after fiddling with his older brother\u2019s guitar, it wasn\u2019t long before he was joining jams.<\/p>\n
After a long bus trip through the United States with his mother, which included a stop in New Orleans, James returned to Regina and joined a folk band, before dabbling in punk, bluegrass and other genres.<\/p>\n
But it was the blues that captured his imagination, and after exhausting the local jams (while not yet of legal age to be in bars), he began looking beyond Regina \u2014 and was lured to Winnipeg by young love and by previous visits to the Winnipeg Folk Festival with his parents.<\/p>\n
\u201cWinnipeg was kind of magic for me\u2026 I lived on Arlington and Westminster, around the corner from Prairie Sky Books.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was pivotal,\u201d James says of his year-and-a-half in the city, where he fronted the blues-rock band Hoodoo Men.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really needed to get a fresh look on things. Winnipeg was kind of magic for me\u2026 I lived on Arlington and Westminster, around the corner from Prairie Sky Books and (the long-defunct) Miss Lipton\u2019s down the road.\u201d<\/p>\n
During his time here, James \u2014 who has lived in Vancouver for the last 40 years \u2014 connected with many local music staples.<\/p>\n
\u201cBig Dave McLean would let me sit in, Hound Dog would let me sit in \u2014 that was huge for me. Gordie Kidder brought me over to his house in Winnipeg and played me a lot of the songs that ended up on my first Little Big Band record\u2026 I had a really great time, saw some great music, and got a gig at the Winnipeg Folk Festival (in 1981, as the Hoodoo Men), which was really validating.\u201d<\/p>\n
While putting in the work and honing one\u2019s chops are key for any chance of success \u2014 in music or otherwise \u2014 there can certainly be a right place\/time element that works in one\u2019s favour.<\/p>\n
James recognizes that getting the call to open for the likes of John Lee Hooker and George Thorogood encompasses a little from both columns.<\/p>\n
\n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\tDish<\/p>\n
Every Second Friday<\/p>\n
The latest on food and drink in Winnipeg and beyond from arts writers Ben Sigurdson and AV Kitching.<\/p>\n
\t\t\tSign up for Dish<\/a><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t \u201cIt\u2019s about taking those opportunities when they come and always going for it \u2014 because you never know what\u2019s coming around the corner,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Never was that more true than in 1984 when, with a day\u2019s notice, James was asked to open for blues guitar legend Stevie Ray Vaughan at a pair of shows in Saskatchewan. With bandmates unable to commit on such short notice, James rustled up some players and banged out a quick rehearsal hours before the first gig.<\/p>\n It was a success, and the two became good friends, with James joining the Pride and Joy singer as an opener on a subsequent U.S. tour \u2014 where Vaughan (who died in a helicopter crash in 1990) christened him Colin James.<\/p>\n From there, James signed a record deal with A&M and began working on his debut, which would be released in 1988 \u2014 where his memoir essentially stops.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Playing the Changes: A Musician\u2019s Memoir covers Colin James\u2019s life before the release of his 1988 debut album.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Opting to end at the beginning of his career, as it were, proved challenging \u2014 it meant James had to avoid getting too much into the nuts and bolts of what came after that record. Could there be a followup book in James\u2019s future?<\/p>\n \u201cWe definitely left room \u2014 it was slightly frustrating not being able to reference some things that happened after 1988,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n James hopes aspiring musicians who read Playing the Changes find bits of his story that will prove useful. \u201cSomeone said to me once, don\u2019t play music because you want to, play music because you need to, and that\u2019s always held some weight for me,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cGoing through some of the stuff to get where you want to isn\u2019t for everyone, but if you\u2019re truly dedicated and nothing else will do, then you\u2019ve just got to kind of stick it out. It\u2019s not always gonna be great.<\/p>\n \u201cBut you\u2019ve got to be there for when opportunity knocks. And that\u2019s kind of an overriding theme in the book \u2014 that you\u2019ve got to keep your feet moving, keep the wheels greased and never get too comfortable. It\u2019s great to be comfortable, but you\u2019ve got to get out of that comfort zone.\u201d<\/p>\n ben.sigurdson@winnipegfreepress.com<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t Ben Sigurdson Ben Sigurdson is the Free Press\u2018s literary editor and drinks writer. He graduated with a master of arts degree in English from the University of Manitoba in 2005, the same year he began writing Uncorked, the weekly Free Press drinks column. He joined the Free Press full time in 2013 as a copy editor before being appointed literary editor in 2014. Read more about Ben<\/a>.<\/p>\n In addition to providing opinions and analysis on wine and drinks, Ben oversees a team of freelance book reviewers and produces content for the arts and life section, all of which is reviewed by the Free Press\u2019s editing team before being posted online or published in print. It\u2019s part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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Literary editor, drinks writer
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