A collection of lyrics and chords
for the music of James Grant

james-grant-songbook

James Grant always wanted to be Jimmy Page. But as the young wannabe guitar hero grew up, he was also blessed with velvet vocal chords. And so was shaped the destiny of one the great songwriters of recent decades.

JGrant03_USE

James Grant

The tireless hours spent practicing chords in front of that boyhood bedroom mirror now surface in shimmering melodies and virtuoso solos –  plucked seemingly effortlessly from some grace-filled sphere. The sweet sorrow of lost love and lasting hope echoes in ‘lyrics good enough to be poetry’ – and wrap around your heart in honeyed tones too haunting to be forgotten.

James has just released his 5th solo album, the eclectic Strange Flowers. Al Green-inflected soul rubs shoulders with radio-friendly rock ; big Bond-style ballads battle it out with contemporary folk classics. There’s even a towering 9-minute ‘song-as-epic-movie’ played out with a blistering 4 minute guitar solo.

James’ has previously produced 4 highly-acclaimed solo albums, working with musician and producer Donald Shaw and a stellar cast of players including dobro meister Jerry Douglas (Alison Krauss and Union Station), harmonica hero Fraser Spiers (Paolo Nutini band), Ewen Vernal (Deacon Blue) and Monica Queen (Thrum).

– the intense, acoustic Holy Love
– the country-fied groove of My Thrawn Glory(Radio 2 Album of the Week)
– the deliciously downbeat solo debut Sawdust In My Veins

He even worked with the legendary spirits of Lee Dorsey, William Blake, WH Auden and Scotland’s own peerless poets William Soutar, Norman McCaig and Edwin Muir to produce the acclaimed I Shot The Albatross – turning classic verses into timeless music.

James also contributed four songs to the first solo album of Capercaillie vocalist Karen Matheson, including the title track The Dreaming Sea. He has written extensively on all of Karen’s solo albums, and continues to lend his gifted guitar-playing to her band.

James-GrantAs a young singer/songwriter/instrumentalist, he first came to international attention in a band called Love and Money. Signed to Phonogram at just 18 years old, James wrote four classic albums for the band, including the astonishingly mature Strange Kind of Love. Recording in New York, he worked with  producers such as Gary Katz of Steely Dan and Tom Dowd (who produced Rod Stewart, Eric Clapton and Aretha Franklin). The albums produced several hit singles, racked up silver disc sales and created a devoted world-wide fanbase.

He has performed or toured with artists as diverse as U2, Nanci Griffiths, Tina Turner, and BB King and appeared on TV shows such as Top of the Pops, The Tube, The Transatlantic Sessions and even Wogan! He continues to live in Glasgow, support Celtic, write and perform.

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