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"You just made our
whole show a little cooler" Conan o' brien |
"That Brit got some
SOUL in him!" sharon jones |
" I was a fan the minute
I heard him sing." Chris isaak |
"This music is going to delight a lotta people."
allen toussaint |
BrooklynVegan
December 5, 2019 |
Long-running British soul revivalist James Hunter is releasing a new James Hunter Six album, Nick of Time, on March 6 via Daptone. It was recorded and produced by Dap-Kings member and Daptone co-founder Bosco Mann, and the opening track and lead single is “I Can Change Your Mind,” which premieres in this post. It’s fueled by a nasty horn line that you could picture on a Screamin’ Jay Hawkins record, which is a perfect fit for James Hunter’s timeless rasp, and all the grit is balanced out by tender, Motown-style backing harmonies.
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Here & Now
with Lisa Mullins February 14, 2018 |
James Hunter sings the blues, and he sings soul, too — two genres that trade in heartache and hard times. His latest album "Whatever It Takes" sounds like a valentine, because the hard-scrabble school dropout from Britain has fallen in love, and married a fan from America."
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The Takeaway
with Todd Zwillich February 2, 2018 |
James Hunter, a British soul and R&B singer, is out today with a new album, entitled, “Whatever it Takes,” and he's setting out on a U.S. tour. Hunter spent his early career touring and singing backup for Van Morrison and eventually launched his first solo release in 2006 with, "People Gonna Talk," which was nominated for a Grammy.
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The New Yorker Culture Desk
by John Donohue February 26, 2013 |
"James Hunter, an English singer with an abiding passion for American soul music of the late fifties and early sixties, was born in 1962, and he grew up in a working-class family in Colchester, Essex. In the pursuit of the music he loves, he’s worked odd jobs—on the railroad, as a laborer, and backing Van Morrison—and by the time he was forty-one, he found himself without a record deal or any gigs. He turned to busking, was rediscovered by record-business insiders, and, in 2006, he released an album of burning soul songs, “People Gonna Talk,” that picked up Grammy nominations and loads of press coverage."
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All Songs Considered
by Ann Powers February 6, 2013 |
"James Hunter as spent his life learning how to tell soul's stories in fresh and personal ways. Born in 1962 in Essex, England and mentored early on by Van Morrison, he embarked on a career with many ups and downs before breaking through in America in his forties. Now the Grammy-nominated Hunter has made his first album in the States, where the music he loves was born. Minute By Minute features his longtime band, rechristened the James Hunter Six, and production by Daptone Records honcho Gabriel Roth."
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No Depression
September, 6, 2011 |
If Ronnie Scott’s Club in Soho isn’t the best music venue in the World it’s certainly the coolest. I’ve dreamt of visiting this legendary venue since the mid 1970’s when I would see their advert in Melody Maker every week; so seeing that James Hunter had a 3 night residency when I was visiting my family in London was a dream come true – the best of British R&B at the spiritual home of British Jazz; what’s not to like?
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No Depression
April 30, 2006 |
Sitting in a Manhattan soul food restaurant and discussing the prospect of fame, James Hunter peppers his speech with the colorful argot of his native Colchester, on the east coast of England: "knee-trembler" (for sex), "piss on his strawberries" (disappoint), "kahzi" (toilet). Hunter's music -- pleading, urgent soul with an uptown polish -- is probably too far removed from the current popular taste for him to fret about stardom. But for the first time in his long career, it at least seems possible, especially in the wake of his new Rounder Records album, the rich and distinctive People Gonna Talk. Not that Hunter cares a great deal one way or the other. "I've never planned anything in me life," he confesses with a philosophical shrug. "I look at the options and pick the one I like, and go steaming on with it."
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All Things Considered
with Michelle Norris March 8, 2006 |
"James Hunter discovered his earliest musical influences in a stack of his grandmother's 78s. Jackie Wilson and other pre-Beatles R&B "got me off to a good start," he says. And it shows in the British singer-songwriter's new CD. Itounds as if it could have been recorded in the 1950s, but it feels much fresher than that."
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