Hosted by the Redlands performing Arts Centre this Sunday, 5 March, Quandamooka man Adam James is moving away from his country style to release his inner blues.
With vocal coaching from the highly esteemed Venetta Fields, the American-born singer and musical theatre songstress who has sung with the likes of Elvis and Barbara Streisand James is pioneering a new path that is undeniably his.
Crowds can expect a shift from country music in his latest show, with a soulful return into blues and jazz style.
"It's me and a harmonica, it's really getting to the heart of what I've written – what those stories mean to me. They represent different parts of my life, I'm beginning a new chapter. They're the bookends of my life… I think this next part of my life there are subtle differences and nuances," says James.
"I draw inspiration from the experiences of my own lived experience, and others – usually its close friends and families – and then there's little things that I see are happening in the world where ill draw upon that story."
"Dangerous Man is a powerful blues song of a moment in time, I was caught in the Barcelona terrorist attacks. That put me in a place that made me afraid to go outside – suffering PTSD, coming out the other side of PTSD and the other side of that experience. I couldn't allow that experience to make me afraid, saying no to that terrorism…To be courageous and ambitious."
"The challenge is there too write or reinterpret something that hasn't been done before – or is reimagined."
James says his creative process is fluid, flitting from archival research, collaboration and refining his ear to the types of sounds that can, "bring the audience along".
For James, capturing the root of his nostalgia and the timeless inspiration of different musical eras are inseparable from his creative process.
"Going back to where the roots of some of these artists began their life. Some people may think that Marvin Gaye for instance, you know, like, is this the song What's Going On? Now? It's an activist record and then the Civil Rights civil rights movement," he says.
"But if you go right back to where Marvin Gaye started, it was musical theatre… that's when he cut his teeth. He began his journey in that way and he was singing covers of old ballads, jazz ballads. And it's beautiful stuff. It's two different markets. It's the same Marvin Gaye but the two very vocally, they're two different and theoretically they're two different styles.
"If you go dial it back to where it was from is this young, romantic, you know, suit-wearing on stage Black crooner."
It's easy to see how James has developed a unique and daring perspective of collaboration, one that is deeply embedded from his love of exploring different decades of music.
"You could look at the act of listening to Marvin Gaye's music, as a form of collaboration," he says.
It is within this process of delving into past and present that can, "spark the creation of innovation and new ideas."
"Getting back to the why" is at the heart of his solo show, reflecting that his home growing up there was "always a good beat".
Tickets and details available here.
