A rarity in today's field of acoustic blues pickers; a guitarist with encyclopedic knowledge who never sounds academic.
James embraces a wide scope of fingerpicking styles -- Piedmont school ragtime, hokum ("Huggin' and Chalkin'"), country (
Sam McGee is the source of two tunes here), and slide (his showstopping take on
Sylvester Weaver's "Guitar Rag") with super technique, humor, and a relaxed ease that borders on cockiness. Only one original here, but that situation was to be rectified on
Steve's follow-up.