Thursday March 3, 2005 at 8pm, Rockfish Grill,
320 Commercial, Anacortes 360-588-1720
Blues at Rockfish in Anacortes
Touring in support of his latest release Reel Time, Solberg comes to the Pacific Northwest fresh from a show in Caspar, CA, plays the blues Thursday at the Rockfish and then heads straight to Seattle for weekend shows (March 4-5) shows at the New Orleans Jazz Restaurant.
The Wisconsin native has had a long and sucessful career as a blues sideman. His teen years were spent learning the blues business on Chicago stages and being inspired by blues radio. James Solberg was a member of the Legendary Blues Band (made up of Muddy Waters alumni Pinetop Perkins, Willie Smith, Calvin Jones and Jerry Portnoy), he formed The Nighthawks with Elvin Bishop, and played along the way with John Lee Hooker, Eddie Taylor, Big Walter Horton and Jimmy Reed.
His best known resume' item would have to be his long association with Luther Allison whom Solberg calls "the first and last blues guy on Motown Records." Luther Allison's 1993 Alligator release Soul Fixin' Man was largely arranged and co-written by Solberg. He would play with him up to Allison death in 1997.
His best known solo release to date is Live in Chicago which received both the W.C.Handy award and a Grammy nomination. James Solberg's latest release, Reel Time taps into his producing talents as well as his well known skills as a guitarist, singer and songwriter. Solberg enjoys producing other artists more than producing himself, though he has proven sucessful in both roles.
James Solberg prefers live performances to studio time. An example of the extent to which he takes this is his philosophy of recording a tune in two or less takes, or simply not including it on a release. This alone is a unique insight into his character and separates him from recording artists who rely on studio magic and numerous takes to capture their sound.
Blues is Solbergs passion, catch an earful of it at the Rockfish Bar & Grill in Anacortes on Thursday, March 3rd.
