James H

Story

Originally from Canada ?? spent over 20 years touring the USA and Canada. Opened for many great artists and been on a couple of records. I have my own band ( Strawdawg ). And do Full Band and Acoustic shows . My main focus is Original Music

Profile

Instruments

Genres

Influences

Equipment

What is music to you? What does it give you?

Music is my life. I’ve been playing music all my life and professionally since I was 14 years old.

What is your music dream?

To release my own CD of original music

If you could change the world - what would you start with?

Humanity. I think the world has lost its way and become more tech dependent. People need to get their heads up and look around .

Which is the most memorable song from your childhood?

I think it has to be the first time I heard the Beatles , Help. I went out and got the Complete catalog and I was on my way

Who are your favorite musical artists or bands?

I love all kinds of music. From Rush, Yes, Cream, LED Zeppelin To Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard, Hank Williams, Brad Paisley, Brothers Osborne to Allman Brothers, Eric Clapton etc to some Classical music, Bach, Strauss, etc. I love it all.

What inspires you to make music?

Anything. A single note played well or something happening around me . When I’m in a good space, I can write all day.

What is the message you want to send with your music?

That you can be creative in any way, be it, Rock, Country, Jazz ( anything ). It’s an expression of yourself and your personality

How do you feel when you perform in front of an audience?

Performing live is the ultimate, I still get nervous until that first note and there’s nothing like playing an original song and having people dance to it. The best .

How do you see the musicians’ reality nowadays? What could be improved?

I think there needs to be more originality with music nowadays. Most music now is remakes of old tunes, which is cool but when I hear something totally original I take notice.

What do you think of Drooble?

Just started so the jury is out but it looks pretty cool, so ask me again later on down the road

What frustrates you most as a musician?

Finding like minded musicians who get it, without the ego and just wanna make some music and have some fun

Do you support your local scene as a fan? How?

I do support local talent if it’s good and they have a direction, I don’t like tribute bands and I’m not into tracking live. If you’re singing to a track, it’s just live karaoke.

What qualities should a musician nowadays have in order to get their music heard by a larger audience?

They need to be original and true to themselves

Share some awesome artists that we’ve never heard of.

I’ve been listening to a lot of Acoustic stuff lately by some artists ( Connie Talbot, Blackberry Smoke, Corey Taylor, Shawn James, etc), and wondered why aren’t these people making it but then again they’re just playing other people’s stuff but still great musicians. There’s some great talent out there.