Biografia

Was only 18 years old when renowned guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan praised him and asked James to open a concert for him.

Is a 6-time Juno winner, his latest award being in 1999 for Best Producer. He was also nominated that year for Best Male Vocalist and Best Blues Album. Including his wins, he has been nominated for a total of 14 Junos in his career so far.

Early in his career, James played guitar on Richard Marx's song "Thunder and Lightning".

Performed for Queen Elizabeth II during her visit to James' home province of Saskatchewan in 2005.

Has made appearances on the David Letterman show and Late Night with Conan O'Brian.

[on why he doesn't play his older hits in concerts] I'm not relying on old hits and going through the motions. I think the new records are better than the first two ones. I'm not sentimental about them anymore. I don't want to sound ungrateful -- God knows it's hard enough to get a song to stick, so you're happy about it -- but you want to move on.

[on Stevie Ray Vaughan] On those shows he got me up on stage for his encores which pretty much blew me away, especially considering it was my hometown. They were super nice to me and a year later when they came through Canada for a second time I got the gig to open again in two different cities.

Blessed with a lot of wonderful people around me who took the time to show me how to play, I soon realized I was probably going to make a go of it.

I have always had a deep affection for roots music and it has touched all the music I play whether I'm playing traditional blues music or writing my own.

[on winning awards]: Well, I guess it's nice when you win and not so much when you lose. It adds some sense of validity and respectability to things. It makes your grandma proud and all that.