Alan James has spent a lifetime "chasing the ghost."It's a term commonly used by musicians to describe what always seems to be just out of reach; the chance to "make it," to be signed by a major record company, to have your music known by the masses.
"Most of us started out with the idea of making this a living and getting signed with a label," says James, a 51-year-old guitar virtuoso and singer-songwriter who has lived in the Verde Valley for nearly four years. "I always knew I wanted to make this my career. I went to Nashville because I thought that might be an 'in' for me. So all these changes I've made, different locations, California, Chicago, all the places I've been was because I thought maybe I can find my way there."
Along the way, James expanded and perfected his craft. You name it, he can do it: rock, blues, jazz, country, bluegrass, classical, flamenco, Celtic, Caribbean, Calypso, Reggae. It's taken him all over the United States. He's shared billings with Jefferson Starship, Joan Jett, Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Michael Bolton, Marshall Tucker and Rick Derringer. He's performed with blues legends such as Willie (Big Eyes) Smith and bassist Kenny Kinsey, son of Big Daddy Kinsey. In 1991, the world-famous Blue Bird Cafe in Nashville commissioned James to perform his original compositions for a national televised airing of "48 Hours."
Through it all, though, the ghost has always been just beyond his reach.
"I can't tell you how many times I've sent my music to the record companies and got a stamp on the corner of the package that says, 'Unopened, sorry we do not accept unsolicited material.' You cannot imagine how disappointing that is."
Like so many musicians today, James has taken matters into his own hands. He has spent the past two years immersing himself into the music-recording computer wizardry that's out there for anyone willing to learn. He's built his own makeshift recording studio. He's expanded his prodigious music skills to the technological side of the business.
"In the course of a year in a half I've learned to be a recording engineer, a mixing engineer and a mastering engineer," explains James. "I've sent my stuff out to those people who do this for a living and they've all said 'fantastic job.' It's really rewarding to know that these 12-hour days have been worth it on every level."
The end result is a pair of new CDs: "Back Alley Blues" and "Open Road." The first - "Back Alley Blues" - is rock-fueled blues featuring James and a Who's Who of Verde Valley musicians: Eddie Baratini on drums, Rich Neville on bass, Michael Reed on saxophone and the late Danny Rhodes on guitar. James provided most of the guitar and bass licks as well as the piano accompaniment. "Open Road" is a solo acoustic offering of folk and blues.
James wrote all of the songs on the two discs. "Especially with the acoustic, I've had some of those songs on the shelf for years. On the album with the band, half the songs are from the past 10 years and half I wrote in the past year," he says. For James, the songwriting process is typically a spur-of-the-moment wellspring of creative magic. "If you force it, it will not come," he says. Often, he explains, he discovers a new song while "noodling" with his guitar. Other times, it's during an improvisational jam during a performance. Finally, he says just relaxing and meditating will allow him to channel a new song.
"It's always the music first ... It always comes to me as a melody or a nice pattern on the guitar, either in my head or on the guitar." It's the culmination of all these skills - some he's had since he was a teen-ager, some that have been carefully cultivated over the years and finally the technological crash course of the past 18 months - that have given James the means to do what he has dreamed of all his life: record and sell his music.
"I've been recording since 1979, off and on for different people ... and I made my first album in 1991," says James. "But this is the first time I've worn all the hats ... recording process, mixing process, mastering process, record design process, all the PR, all the advertising and marketing, everything you could possibly imagine."
James will market both albums through CD Baby as well as a host of online distributors such as Napster, Sony Music and his own Web site.
"There are 10 companies in all that will distribute and sell them," he explains.
Typical of the musician life, James and his band will hit the road plugging and promoting the two CDs. His planned stops along the way include his old haunts in Florida and New York City. In September, James will be the featured act during the two-day Mexican Independence Day celebration at El Viejo Topo in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.
He'll also keep it local with shows and CD release parties in the Upper Verde Valley, Sedona and the Village of Oak Creek, the first of which will be Sept. 19 at the 10-12 Lounge in Clarkdale.
"The joy for me has been journey of doing it all myself," says James. "I've learned all these processes and I feel like I'm getting the satisfaction of having a product after all these years of rejection ... I can now sell my music through independent distributors and through the Internet.
"I don't have to worry about rejection letters any more."
Related Links:
AJH Color/Alan James Band.
