From Inntowner to waterfront, Colin James a regular in Thunder Bay

Colin James keeps coming back but he has no intention to say goodbye to Thunder Bay.

The 51-year-old Canadian musician, who rocketed to worldwide fame as the 1980s gave way to the 90s, will be back along the familiar shores of Lake Superior this weekend as the Saturday night headliner at the Thunder Bay Blues Festival.

“Back when we used to tour across the country in a van, I think Thunder Bay was one of the earliest. We’d always do what you think you’d do – Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary – you’d work your way across but Thunder Bay we’d always stop,” he said.

“I always remember my weeklong gig at the Inntowner from years back when we actually had to stay at that hotel for a whole week.”
It was more than 25 years ago James, born and raised in Regina, soared up Canadian and international charts with career defining hits Just Came Back, Five Long Years and Keep on Loving Me Baby.

In the years since, James has constantly evolved his sound by exploring beyond the initial guitar driven blues rock to swing and bluegrass.

There’s also a fundamentally different approach to his performing.

In his early days he drew his inspiration from guitar legends such as Stevie Ray Vaughan, Albert King and Fleetwood Mac’s Peter Green, and though they all used their talent to complement their vocals James had a tendency to rely on his instrument.

It’s taken James some time, and a gradual epiphany, to come into his own on the microphone.

“I’ve always been somebody who likes both. Just when I was younger I couldn’t sing very well. When I go back to listen to Why’d You Lie and stuff, now I just kind of cringe,” James said.

“You learn how to sing over the years and it just becomes more fun because you’re not trying to sound like anyone else anymore.”

For the veteran performer, it sometimes feels as though the past two decades have flown by, as he was made aware by his daughter’s recent 21st birthday.

This weekend James will find himself at an all-Canadian edition of the Blues Festival, with a slate of Canadian legends like himself, Tom Cochrane and Burton Cummings, but with a new wave of emerging, up-and-coming talent.

If anything, he wants those developing artists to realize music is a labour of love but it is possible to make it a life, no matter where they started.

“It’s nice to be someone who has kept at it and showed you can make a life out of it,” James said.

“I don’t know if the work ethic about going out there and playing and working it, I don’t know if that’s still there. I think people want it to happen now and not to have to put the time in.”