Review by Chris Manson of www.thebeachcomber.org
Garry James is the real deal, playing bottleneck and homemade steel guitars and stomping on a washtub with a microphone strategically placed underneath. James shares his last name with one of his heroes, Elmore, whose “Dust My Broom” fits neatly into the set between “Midnight Special” and “Stand by Me.”
James performed for 30 years in Colorado, Texas, and Mississippi. Before relocating to Milton, James worked as a pipe fitter in Boston and rocked the high-minded MIT crowds. He started building his steel-bodied guitars in the early 1980s. “The sound they spit out leaves the resonator in the dust,” he says.
As the father of a 12-year-old son, James doesn’t want to travel, but admits that it’s hard to get steady work. An article published in the Pensacola News Journal resulted in only one gig. “I would love to just make guitars for people,” he says. Happily, James just landed the Thursday night slot at Milton’s Main Street Café beginning tonight.
James is a guitarist, singer, and harmonica blower of tremendous force, as his readings of both blues classics and more contemporary singer-songwriter material like Neil Young’s “Hey Hey My My (Out of the Blue)” demonstrate. He doesn’t work from a set list, but he will do songs the crowds want to hear—in his own style, thank you very much.
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