JAMES' BIO

     Born outside of Houston, TX, James has played piano for as long as he can remember. That would lead to drums, bass, guitar…. A true utility player whose range is limited merely to what gear he owns. James studied music production and classical piano at Texas State University, graduated, and went to work. After moving to Austin in 2010, James began running the studio side of producer/drummer Ken Tondre’s budding production company. This would lead to the opportunity to work in the studio with Texas session greats (David Grissom, John Carroll, Michael Ramos, Haydn Vitera, Michael Tarabay….) on recordings for the top Texas acts of that era. 

    As various acts would need a keys player for their touring bands James would use this as a creative outlet versus the technical monotony of audio engineering.  He would then join the Sunset Riders, a country cover band residency gig that allowed for him to hone his live skills playing  hammond, mandolin, and banjo three sets a night, four nights a week. Playing music full time was the dream but a plateau was reached in Texas, and it was time to move on. 

    In 2016 James moved to Nashville with 2 keyboards, a bass and a banjo and started over. Playing with anyone and everyone James would slowly carve out a niche as a true professional and leader capable of meeting the demands of the Nashville music machine. Fearing complacency and loving a challenge, James would dive into bass and take whatever gigs he could to build his skill set. Keys would still be a mainstay on the remote session front, recording for artists around the country from his home studio.

Most recently James has been on the road with acclaimed songwriter Tucker Beathard promoting a double release with Warner Music Nashville.