Showing posts with label Jim Byrnes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jim Byrnes. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 29, 2025

Jim Byrnes - That River

Album: That River
Size: 109,7 MB
Time: 47:29
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 1995
Styles: Blues
Art: Full

1. No Special Rider (3:26)
2. Treat Me This Way (5:05)
3. That River (4:12)
4. All Over You (4:33)
5. Every Waking Moment (4:37)
6. If I Ever Cried (5:26)
7. Junior Burn The House Down (3:58)
8. Otto's Mood (4:38)
9. I Got It Bad (4:02)
10. Wrapped Up, Tied Up (3:32)
11. Still Stuck On You (3:55)

A treasured actor and blues musician, Jim Byrnes began his love with acting and music when he was still a small child. In college he found acting jobs easily until the draft sent him to war instead of to Hollywood. Byrnes kept his dreams, and himself, alive, and returned to follow his original goals as best he could after his tour of duty was over. A car accident put his acting career on hold again, so he turned his full attention toward music. Over the next few decades, he recorded a number of albums, and even found his way back to acting, both in films and television. In 1995 he landed a well-deserved spot in the British Columbia Entertainment Hall of Fame.

James Thomas Kevin Byrnes was born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1948. Byrnes started his musical training with piano lessons at the tender age of five. Even that early in his life, things were never easy for him. An illness almost ended not only his budding musical skills, but his life. By the time he entered high school, he had taught himself to play the guitar. He also gained an interest in acting around that time, and began taking drama classes that continued when he started college. Being drafted into the Vietnam War put a temporary hold on his career around the end of the turbulent '60s.

Around 1970, Byrnes moved to Toronto, Canada, and launched into acting and music again. Just when he seemed to be getting a foothold in some kind of career, fate knocked him down again, this time with a serious car wreck that took almost any chance of acting away from him. He still had his music, and put his heart into it. He landed gigs wherever he could, touring with other bands through Canada and into the United States. Before the '70s ended, he put together a band of his own called the Jim Byrnes Band. It was while working with them that he recorded his debut album, Burning. It was released under the Polydor Records label in 1981. A year later, he received his first big music nomination for Most Promising Male Vocalist from the Juno Awards.

Byrnes' sophomore album, I Turned My Nights into Days, didn't appear until 1987. That same year he landed his first recurring role in a television series; the name of the show was Wiseguy. He spent nearly four years working on the series. He also did a number of guest shots on other shows, and even some work in films. In 1993 he was cast as Joe Dawson on the popular Highlander television series and later in its spin-off, The Raven. With Highlander helping his fame, Byrnes recorded a third full-length album, That River. It was released under the Stony Plain Records label in 1995. In 1998, Stony Plain pulled his last two albums together and released them as a combination CD. After releasing Love Is a Gamble on One Coyote Music in 2001, he signed with Black Hen Music in 2004. That year's Fresh Horses opened up a series of albums for the label that, as of the release of Long Hot Summer Nights in 2017, numbered at seven. /Biography by Charlotte Dillon, AllMusic

(For personnel details, see artwork included.)

That River mc
That River gofile

Friday, April 20, 2018

Michael Kaeshammer - Something New

Size: 99,3 MB
Time: 37:11
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2018
Styles: Blues
Art: Front

01. Scenic Route (3:00)
02. Do You Believe (Feat. Curtis Salgado) (3:54)
03. Come On Home (3:12)
04. She's Gone (Feat. Jim Byrnes, Amos Garrett & Chuck Leavell) (2:43)
05. Josephine (3:23)
06. Who Are You (Feat. Colin James & Randy Bachman) (3:56)
07. Heaven And Earth (Feat. Cyril Neville) (4:00)
08. Dixie Has The Blues (3:38)
09. Forbidden Love (3:08)
10. Sweet Georgia (3:30)
11. Weimar (2:40)

Internationally acclaimed musician Michael Kaeshammer has toured the world showcasing his talents as a singer, songwriter, pianist and producer. A spellbinding artist, Kaeshammer's performances and recordings are intimate and inviting affairs, whether in a small club, large theatre or on home stereo. Something New is a new musical adventure. Produced by Michael himself it features 10 original songs about love, life, travel and politics. Recorded at the historic Esplanade Studios in the heart of New Orleans' Treme district, Kaeshammer along with Big Easy legends Cyril Neville (The Neville Brothers), George Porter Jr (The Meters), Johnny Vidacovich (Professor Longhair), Mike Dillon (Primus), the New Orleans Nightcrawlers Brass Band and Canadian bassist David Piltch (k. d. lang) create an eclectic sonic ride. Very special guests include Colin James, Randy Bachman, Curtis Salgado, Jim Byrnes, Amos Garrett and Chuck Leavall of The Rolling Stones.

Something New

Monday, November 13, 2017

Jim Byrnes - Long Hot Summer Days

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 53:09
Size: 121.7 MB
Styles: Roots, Contemporary blues
Year: 2017
Art: Front

[4:07] 1. Step By Step
[4:19] 2. The Shape I'm In
[4:15] 3. Ain't No Love In The Heart Of The City
[4:22] 4. There Is Something On Your Mind
[5:54] 5. Everybody Knows
[4:06] 6. Deep Blue Sea
[4:01] 7. Weak Brain, Narrow Mind
[3:16] 8. Ninety Nine And A Half (Won't Do)
[5:22] 9. Something Inside Of Me
[4:17] 10. Anywhere The Wind Blows
[4:15] 11. Out Of Left Field
[4:51] 12. Long Hot Summer Days

Every now and then, if you’re lucky, you’ll hear a voice that changes the way you think about music. It’s that rare kind of voice that can take you out of yourself to a place where a song that you’ve heard a thousand times becomes brand new again. Jim Byrnes’ voice has that quality, and even though he’s been winning over audiences with his soulful vocals for more than fifty years now, he’s never sung like he does on ‘Long Hot Summer Days’, his newest album on Black Hen Music.

At age sixty-nine, Jim Byrnes has recorded a career milestone, which, given his history with numerous Juno Awards and Maple Blues Awards, among many other accolades, is saying a lot. But, if you listen just once through ‘Long Hot Summer Days’, it’s easy to be convinced that there simply isn’t anyone alive today who loves a good song more than Jim does. It’s an amazing thing to hear a performer who, well into the fifth decade of his career, the veteran of thousands of live performances and dozens of recording sessions, continues to approach creating a new album with the dedication and enthusiasm of a twenty year old.

Jim has collaborated on 7 album releases now with Steve Dawson, the award winning guitarist and producer. It’s a partnership that had its genesis in 2004 when Jim and Steve got together to record the critically acclaimed ‘Fresh Horses’. Since then, they have played countless shows and sessions together across Canada and around the world.

‘Long Hot Summer Days’ is an album that reflects everything that Byrnes looks for in a song. As he points out; “Most blues fans are on the lookout for the sound of a tasty blues guitar, but for me what makes or breaks a song is the singer.” As anyone who’s ever heard him before can attest, Jim’s always been an exceptional vocalist, but for this album he wanted to take his performances to another level. Byrnes explains, “All of the singers I’ve ever loved have known when to hold back. I’ve finally learned to work with restraint, and that if you don’t throw it all out at your audience, you can work with what you don’t reveal. And, sometimes what you can suggest without actually singing it overtly gets pretty interesting. I think with this record, I’ve finally learned to sound like myself.”

With a love of music as vast as Jim’s, it’s not surprising that ‘Long Hot Summer Days’ covers a lot of territory. From the spare and haunting rendition of Willie Dixon’s ‘Weak Brain, Narrow Mind’ captured to tape with one microphone 30 feet away, to the rich full band sound of ‘Ninety-Nine And A Half’, ‘Long Hot Summer Days’ is a master class of song interpretation.

Long Hot Summer Days

Monday, June 15, 2015

VA - Things About Comin' My Way: A Tribute To The Music Of The Mississippi Sheiks

Size: 155,7 MB
Time: 66:20
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2009
Styles: Acoustic Blues
Art: Full

01. The North Mississippi Allstars - It's Backfirin' Now (3:59)
02. Ndidi Onukwulu - Things About Comin' My Way (4:58)
03. John Hammond - Stop And Listen (3:47)
04. Bruce Cockburn - Honey Babe Let The Deal Go Down (3:56)
05. Oh Susanna - Bootlegger's Blues (Arrangement By Van Dyke Parks) (3:43)
06. The Carolina Chocolate Drops - Sitting On Top Of The World (3:17)
07. Danny Barnes - Too Long (4:00)
08. Jim Byrnes - Jailbird Love Song (3:27)
09. Bill Frisell - That's It (3:10)
10. Madeleine Peyroux - Please Baby (4:11)
11. Kelly Joe Phelps - Livin' In A Strain (4:46)
12. Steve Dawson - Lonely One In This Town (3:39)
13. Geoff Muldaur & The Texas Sheiks - The World Is Going Wrong (3:08)
14. Del Rey - We Both Are Feeling Good Right Now (2:45)
15. Bob Brozman - Somebody's Gotta Help You (4:06)
16. The Sojourners - He Calls That Religion (4:00)
17. Robin Holcomb - I've Got Blood In My Eyes For You (5:21)

The Mississippi Sheiks were a short-lived but popular acoustic string band that recorded approximately 70 songs during the first half of the 1930s before receding into history. Built around guitarist/singer Walter Vinson and fiddler Lonnie Chatmon, with other musicians (notably Lonnie's guitarist brothers Bo Carter and Sam Chatmon), the Sheiks left their influence on numerous folk, country, blues, and even rock performers in later decades -- their best-known song, "Sitting on Top of the World," was recorded by a long list of artists including Howlin' Wolf, Ray Charles, Chet Atkins, Cream, Bob Dylan, and the Grateful Dead. For this tribute album, producer Steve Dawson gathered a cast of sympathetic artists to interpret songs associated with the group, giving them much leeway but keeping the proceedings from veering too far from the original spirit of the music. Dawson himself plays a variety of guitars on several tracks, and takes top billing on a perky version of "Lonely One in This Town," but largely stays behind the scenes so that the artists' personalities might meld with the new arrangements of this seven-plus-decades-old music. The performances range from the solo guitar of bluesman John Hammond and slide master Bob Brozman to the gospel of the Sojourners and the sultry, jazzy vocalizing of Madeleine Peyroux. The opening number, "It's Backfirin' Now," is given a rootsy jug band treatment by the North Mississippi Allstars and Bruce Cockburn, with trombone and Hammond organ among his accompaniment, brings a sweet and lazy New Orleans feel to "Honey Babe Let the Deal Go Down." It's appropriate that the Carolina Chocolate Drops -- perhaps the closest of contemporary bands in style to the Sheiks -- get to make "Sitting on Top of the World" their own: these African-American traditionalists have a deep understanding of, and innate camaraderie with, the Sheiks' music. Not surprisingly, Geoff Muldaur -- whose own lengthy catalog is filled with tunes that draw from the Sheiks' brand of old-timey string music -- and his own Texas Sheiks nail "The World Is Going Wrong." Even jazz guitarist Bill Frisell, whose eclecticism has always been his hallmark, finds common ground with the long-gone Sheiks, dueting with trombonist Steve Moore on "That's It," a good-time melody that manages to capture the essence of the Sheiks' sound while placing it squarely in today's more complex world. ~by Jeff Tamarkin

Things About Comin' My Way

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Jim Byrnes - St Louis Times

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 48:20
Size: 110.6 MB
Styles: Rock roots, Contemporary blues
Year: 2014
Art: Front

[3:51] 1. I Get Evil
[4:27] 2. Somebody Lied
[3:46] 3. Nadine
[4:15] 4. Old Dog, New Tricks
[3:36] 5. You'll Miss Me (When I'm Gone)
[3:17] 6. The Duck's Yas Yas Yas
[2:23] 7. The Journey Home
[4:38] 8. St. Louis Blues
[3:57] 9. Cake Alley
[4:24] 10. I Need A Change
[3:46] 11. That Will Never Do
[5:54] 12. Another Night To Cry

Jim Byrnes lives and breathes music. For nearly fifty years he’s crooned, drawled, belted, hollered and sweet-talked more songs into a microphone than most people ever get to hear in a single lifetime. Even so, he’s never recorded an album like this one. St. Louis Times is Byrnes’ most personal record to date. Reminiscences of his childhood home of St. Louis are expressed through his original compositions as well as versions of songs he grew up with that were recorded by St. Louis musicians. By revisiting songs associated with Chuck Berry, Stump Johnson, Little Milton, Peetie Wheatstraw and more, Jim Byrnes takes us on an intimate musical journey through a world that has passed by – just in time for the commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the city of St. Louis and the 100th anniversary of the song ‘St. Louis Blues.’

St. Louis Times is the sixth album that Jim Byrnes and Steve Dawson have recorded together, and its release coincides with the tenth anniversary of their partnership. With that in mind, Dawson gathered some of the best roots musicians in Canada together for a super session to record the basic tracks for St. Louis Times on vintage equipment in a big old studio blessed with brilliant ambience and acoustics. As usual Dawson’s signature string work rides shotgun through St. Louis Times and has never sounded more right for Jim’s songs, while Darryl Havers’ innovative keyboard work and the rock solid rhythm section of Jeremy Holmes on bass and the tireless Geoff Hicks on drums gracefully support every track. Horns from a host of legendary Nashville players provide depth and texture on many of St. Louis Times’ best songs.

St Louis Times