WORKING CLASS BLUES - MCKINLEY JAMES

McKinley James, a rising star in the modern blues scene, is a musician whose soulful melodies and electrifying guitar riffs have captivated audiences na-tionwide. With a sound that blends traditional blues roots with contemporary flair, he has quickly made a name for himself, earning praise for both his tech-nical prowess and emotive performances. Today, Blues Matters caught up with him to look into his musical influences, creative process, while, at time of writing, he was on a UK wide tour.

WORDS: Colin Campbell PICS: Jeck Jordan

McKinley James, a rising star in the modern blues scene, is a musician whose soulful melodies and electrifying guitar riffs have captivated audiences na-tionwide. With a sound that blends traditional blues roots with contemporary flair, he has quickly made a name for himself, earning praise for both his tech-nical prowess and emotive performances. Today, Blues Matters caught up with him to look into his musical influences, creative process, while, at time of writing, he was on a UK wide tour.

I start at the beginning asking how the UK tour is going so far?

“We played a lightly attended show at the Blues Kitchen last time due to poor promotion. However, our recent show at The Lexington had around 80-85 attendees. It was a ticketed event at a killer venue, and it was great. It was like listening and kind of rock and roll crowd to. So, it was energetic, which was nice. But even during the ballads, nobody really talked. They all really paid attention. We play almost every night and usually one day off is the travel day. Yesterday, we got lucky to do some tourist stuff in London.”

“We aim to deliver a performance better than the record, ensuring it’s more exciting, lively, and soulful. With rising ticket prices, it’s crucial to fulfil expectations so fans feel their money was well spent! We’ve done every kind of gig, big and small, so now I don’t get nervous, just excited. Playing with my dad feels like we’re in our studio, having fun and giving our best. It feels like second nature just to be up there and playing. I’ll be 23 in August, but I’ve been playing gigs since I was five, and for the last two years of high school, I did online school because we started to work a bunch. So that’s really all I’ve been doing even before high school ended, I was gigging and touring. So

that’s all I’ve been doing for the last seven years, just touring and playing. I worked at a recording studio part time when we weren’t touring for about five years. I worked at Easy Sound in Nashville for Dan Auerbach. My dad and Dan were mutual friends, so we met and geeked out about guitars. I offered to help out after high school, and a few months later, his engineer called me to start working. I learned a lot in five years—engineering, session work, and invaluable music career lessons.”

“Never slack. My father told me When you start playing gigs, you must give it your best because someone else could have had the gig that could have possibly needed the money. Play the show, and give it your best all the time, don’t half ass things on stage.”

“So, I grew up in a musical household. My dad was always a touring musician and a musician ever since he was a kid. He actually plays in the band and the duos with me on drums, Jason Smay. My mom is super musical, always playing records and videos of live performances like Stax Records’ One Night Live in Norway. My childhood was filled with soul and blues music. Surrounded by musicians, our house often hosted my dad’s bandmates. Growing up with instruments, especially a Hammond B3, I could mess around with music from a young age. Despite not mastering it, I continued playing. This constant exposure to music and musicians, along with my mom’s influence, made music an integral part of my life, inspiring me to become a musician. Music has always been in my head, shaping my path. I was a big Booker T & the M.G.’s fan and learned some Hammond organ but was never super-efficient at it despite there being a lot of instruments in the house. When I was ten years old, after watching Steve Cropper in a Booker T video, I knew guitar was all I wanted to do. From then, it became clear music was my future. I got guitar lessons from a family friend. He’s been playing jazz and blues in my hometown Rochester New York since he was a kid in the 60s. He showed me the way and gave me lessons for a few years. After moving to Nashville, I had no teachers but benefited from his emphasis on music theory and reading. This foundation aids my songwriting, beyond just playing licks and solos.”

Your vocals are soulful, when did you learn to sing?

“I never wanted to sing, only play guitar. But my dad insisted learning to sing would create more opportunities. At thirteen years old, I started singing, found it fun, and enjoyed expressing myself through songwriting. I’m grateful for his push, as it led to many cool opportunities.”

“I had bands with my brothers and I, just playing at the house. But my first band was me, my dad, and a bass player out of Rochester. We did a couple gigs and played over a year or so together. Then it became a Hammond trio with, pops and then our friend Ray. So, it’s always usually been a trio, but we did some gigs early on as a duo, and since we’re duo now, it kind of feels really natural. I remember playing every Tuesday in a blues and soul band at an R&B nightclub in Rochester before moving to Nashville. This house band experience was pivotal, featuring top players like Joe Beard, who taught me early Chicago blues. Watching these real musicians, like Buddy Guy’s friends, was like a weekly guitar lesson, deeply motivating me. Joe Beard, now 86, was connected with legends like Matt ‘Guitar’ Murphy, Buddy Guy, Jimmy Reed, and Eddie Taylor. These sessions in small Rochester clubs helped me cut my teeth before touring, providing invaluable, informal education in blues music.”

What about moving to Nashville and playing with Patrick Sweeney, is an obvious question.

“Patrick Sweeney and the Tiger Beats have been playing together in Nashville for seven years. We joined the band and played most Monday nights locally in Nashville. Patrick’s honest, no-frills approach to blues is what I love—he doesn’t try to sound old; he just has it naturally. Our band’s mix of 60s electric blues and Patrick’s earlier ragtime blues blends well. Nashville’s known for country, but there’s a vibrant blues and R&B scene on Jefferson Street, like where Etta James recorded. It’s a hidden gem with a rich history that’s often overlooked amidst the country dominance.”

The response leads me to ask about his influences.

“I’ve always gravitated to Magic Sam. My two favourite records are his, West Side Soul and the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Girls Go Wild. But I always loved Howlin’ Wolf because of Hubert Sumlin and Otis Rush. Magic Sam, as far as blues guitar goes, he was the guy that really influenced me early on. His singing inspired me, he doesn’t sing like the standard blues vocal phrasing. He always has a little bit of soul element to him, which I like too, because I’m a big soul fan, so he kind of mixes both nicely.”

Followed by, How would you describe your musical style?

“I would just say traditional rhythm and blues because it’s a mix of rock and roll with soul and blues. I love mixing. I want it to be relatable to people today. One foot in the old world but make it fresh so everybody can relate to it, keeping it modern and relatable to today’s listening public.”

The band is now a duo, and you have a distinctive guitar style to bring in a bass line?

“I grew up playing Hammond; it’s a big part of the sound I love. I’ll used a guitar amp and Leslie until we find another Hammond player. I replicate the Hammond with guitar and bass, playing with my thumb. Lightnin’ Hopkins and Jimmy Reed inspired my thumb picking technique. He’s always got his thumb on that low E. I tried that through a Leslie and guitar amp; it sounds big and natural.”

We go on to talk about his new release

“The title comes from working class problems, BLUES exemplifies both these words for me. The songs describe working class blues with themes the everyday person can relate to; love, heartbreak, rock ‘n’ roll. You can give this record to a pop listener or a hardcore blues fan, and they’ll relate. It’s for the everyday person, not just specific music lovers. They’re fresh, relatable, and soulful. The production process was minimal, it was just a couple of close microphones and one guitar amp and drums. We thought about doing it a couple different ways, to see how we could make the duo sound big.”

“We recorded the song Always on My Mind, for example as a demo, which ended up being the take on the record. I got some microphones thrown up and I used my Strat and got this little amp, and I did a rough mix on it. It sounded cool because we also wanted to keep it honest sounding because you can do a bunch of production and everything on this album. But it was just like, the title is Working Class Blues, and these are working class songs. Let’s try it and let’s not make it fancy. Let’s just keep it super honest, what you hear on the record is what you’re going to hear live. The demo sounded cool, so let’s just do the whole record like that. We did it over Thanksgiving weekend. It just felt natural to just get in the room, be like a couple of feet away from each other and just hit the record button. Stay With You, took a little bit longer, it really kind of depends, sometimes you get lucky and it’s quick, and sometimes it takes a couple of days. Movin’, I wrote with Dan Auerbach and Pat McLaughlin, we did this in forty minutes, we just jammed, and he groove set. When it came to mixing, my father changed it to a fast shuffle in the Jimmy Redd style.”

Do you have a songwriting process, I wonder, as our time comes to a close?

“I try to write as much as I can, even if it’s just a line comes up in my head or whatever. I’ll write it down or do a voice memo or whatever on my phone. I pick through those later. There are some co-writes on this record so I’ll get an idea kind of write a song and bring it to him and be like, hey, how can we make this work? Then I’ll have the words written down and a loose form of it. But then when we get together, that’s when it really kind of comes to life, because then we can blend both of our ideas together and really kind of finish it out. I’m trying to always write, but sometimes it is harder than others.”

For further information see website: mckinleyjames.com