LIVE MUSIC: Early James

Name: LIVE MUSIC: Early James
Start: 2025-04-08T20:00:00-05:00
Location: 345 E Choctaw Ave, McAlester, OK

Schedule

Tue, 08 Apr, 2025 at 08:00 pm

UTC-05:00

Location

345 E Choctaw Ave, McAlester, OK | Mcalester, OK

When the time came for Early James to record his third album Medium Raw, out January 10th on Easy Eye Sound and once again produced by Dan Auerbach, it was decided a change of scenery was needed. Instead of a typical studio setup, Auerbach felt the album needed to be recorded in an old house, like many of his favorite Arhoolie records. The house in question, known as “Honky Chateau,” was an old Nashville property owned by photographer and artist Buddy Jackson. Over 100 years old, the house has plaster on the walls, plastered ceilings, old wallpaper and big oak floors. In the new video for Medium Raw standout “Tinfoil Hat,” fans get a look inside the recording sessions. James, Auerbach, bassist Adrian Marmolejo, drummer Jeffrey Clemens and percussionist Sam Bacco can be seen recoding around the house, surrounded by peeling wallpaper, aging furniture, various bric-a-brac, and even an old painting of Harry Dean Stanton.
“I wanted to try to find that power of when I first saw him, when it was just him and his guitar,” Auerbach says. “After working with him a couple of times in the studio, I felt like I wasn’t going to be able to do it in the same kind of way. The comforts and luxuries of the studio, where you’re able to hear everything and make adjustments and changes, wasn’t right for this project. Some of my favorite albums are those Arhoolie records produced by Chris Strachwitz that were recorded in houses, by Fred McDowell, Lightnin’ Hopkins. I felt like we might get better results if we did it in a house.”
James, Auerbach and crew brought in all the recording gear themselves – including an old 50’s Universal Audio tube console which was originally built by FAME Studios’ Rick Hall. Mixing consoles were set up in an upstairs bedroom. James and the players on the album were all set up in different rooms downstairs. James notes that pretty much everything you hear on Medium Raw was, as its title suggests, cut “au naturel.”
“There are just two overdubs, on ‘Rag Doll’ and ‘Nothing Surprises Me Anymore,’” James says. “On the trio tracks, it was a challenge. Jeff Clemens, who drummed, was two rooms away — I couldn’t see him. We didn’t have in-ear monitors, and it was the first time for him hearing any of those songs. I love his drumming with G. Love [& Special Sauce] and Kenny Vaughan so much. You can hear Jeff kind of tiptoeing through it, and it makes the songs move in a really cool way. It’s not hyper-polished, but it has Jeff’s confidence, and you can’t teach that.”
“James’ little ’66 Fender amp was right behind him, there were no baffles or anything, and so when he was soloing it was all bleeding into his vocal mic,” explains Auerbach. “We had these beautiful microphones sucking up the soul of the house. It sounded fucking amazing. When you have headphones on, you can hear that room. You can even see the room when you close your eyes.”
Beyond seven James originals — six previously unrecorded numbers and the fan favorite “Dig To China,” which dates back to his first EP — the new album includes songs co-written with Auerbach and top Nashville songwriter Pat McLaughlin (“I Got This Problem”); Sheryl Crow’s frequent collaborator Jeff Trott (“Nothing Surprises Me Anymore”); roots singer-songwriter Langhorne Slim (“Go Down Swinging”); Irish songwriter Mick Flannery (“Upside Down Umbrella”); and James’ former Birmingham roommate Ryan Sobb (“Unspeakable Thing”).
The writing continues to display the hallmarks of James’ distinctive, one-of-a-kind style: whip-smart wordplay, upended clichés, humor both light and dark, and a deep intelligence that frequently reflects a literary sensibility.
James has spent this fall on the road, opening for Charley Crockett, The Heavy Heavy, St Paul & The Broken Bones, and the Wallflowers. Next month, James and his touring band (bassist Marmolejo and drummer Joey Rudisell) will begin an European headline tour, with dates in the Netherlands, France, Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria, Germany, and Denmark. James also announced a coast-to-coast U.S. headline tour this week, which begins in February 2025.