Natasha James, a singer-songwriter from Northern California, is a rising artist on the Americana music scene. Her debut album, Bad Judgements, features rock, country, bluegrass, and blues persuasions. Her sophomore release, Tequila Time, debuted on the Roots Charts at #20 in the country. We talked tequila, travel, and more in our Q&A with her:
NCC: What was it like to begin playing and singing in blues clubs at age 14?
NJ: It really didn't feel like anything out of the ordinary; it was just what I was doing. I had always been entertaining people- at school when I was eight I would play for them, then as kids at the beach we would make up jingles and dances for commercials and perform them for the adults at cocktail hour...that's just what we did. I did get to perform alot of 20's & 30's blues: Sippie Wallace, Bessie Smith, stuff I was listening to at the time.
NCC: What made you pursue music instead of an acting/modeling career?
NJ: Really I was never interested in modelling as a career. My mother got me started in it when I was 4; I liked the clothes, but I was always happy to take them off and put on sweats! As for acting, well acting was the world that I was surrounded in and I enjoyed it - I write character-driven plays and short stories - but it did not pull me in the way music always did. You know, just because you have a talent for something, people think you ought to do it, and that is certainly what my mother had in mind for me. I would not say that I pursued music either, it is just what I always have to do. I would say that music pursued me and I give in. I love music, I can't not write, and I can't leave it alone. My relationship with music is like with a lover: can't live with it; can't live without it.
Facts in Five with Natasha James
By Outlaw Magazine - June, 2010
Northern California Songstress, Natasha James, is making a name for herself in the Roots Music Scene. With a unique blend of bluesy rock, country and even flavors of bluegrass, James' grooves compliment her salty and sultry vocals. Her latest effort, Tequila Time, debuted on the Roots Charts t #20 in the country, #19
in the California, and #23 Internationally. She's the first Artist to participate in Outlaw's new Facts in Five series where OM asks five questions to gain a quick look into the life on an Artist.
OM: What Artists have had the most influence in your music?
NJ: My greatest influences musically (early on) were: Bob Dylan, for writing, I used to be an anthology of his songs - knew all the lyrics to Desolation Row, etc. Jerry Jeff Walker, John Prine, Jesse Colin Young (matter of fact, I named a band of mine in NYC years ago, Good 'N Dusty, after the title of one of his albums), and Neil Young. Musically, probably Taj Majal, Brownie McGee and Sonny Terry, also Lovin' Spoonful, Van Morrison, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Roger Miller, and Traffic. Vocally, Joan Baez, Judy Collins, Nina Simone, Bessie Smith...and later on, Janis Joplin and Linda Ronstadt.
OM: What age did you start writing?
NJ: I started writing at around 13 but nothing I wanted to save. I sold my first song at 19 or 20. I was living in London; I co-wrote the tune with Jeff Hunter, Tab Hunter's son, who was in L.A. After that, I moved back to LA for awhile.
OM: How do you feel about the overproduced commercial music of today?
NJ: I don't think of it as music. I think of it as a presentation. A conceptual product layered by a team of industry marketers ostensibly designed to be commercially successful. I question its' viability on any level without the vast sums of marketing dollars pumped into these "projects."
OM: Any plans to tour Texas anytime soon?
NJ: I would LOVE to tour Texas anytime!! Matter of fact, this has been on my radar for quite awhile. My dobro player, David Aguilar, is from Texas (he also did the tex-mex leads on my CD Tequila Time and will be on the new song I am laying down, Room 203). He has played the Kerrville Folk Festival several years running with Norton Buffalo.... this is something I would love to be part of! I have always had Texans in my line-up, seems like the cats that get what I am about musically. are always from Texas.
OM: What inspires you?
NJ: I am inspired by that which depresses me and that which gives me hope. So much of the greatness of the human spirit is revealed in times of plenty as well as times of deprivation. Perhaps the human spirit is just as tough to sustain in times of plenty as distractions can be a persons' undoing. We have all written about rising from the ashes; perhaps I should write a tune about rising from the riches...so many fall so hard there. Hmm... I will revisit this thought with a cup of black tea and an English muffin. Lately, I have a few musical pieces roaming around my fingers with no lyrics, which is unusual. I was told I started talking at six months old and haven't shut up since...maybe I'm getting quieter now.
Up & Coming New Nashville - Natasha James (with Exclusive Interview)
By That Nashville Sound - Monday, April 26, 2010
Natasha James is known for taking Roots music styles, turning them on their head, combining them, and coming out with tunes that are completely unique but totally familiar at the same time.
On her debut album, Bad Judgements, she had the pleasure of working and recording with old friend and monster sax player, Martin Fierro (Thelonius Monk, Jerry Garcia, Zero) and renowned keyboardist Austin Delone, among other stellar talents. That CD launched the hit single, "The Restless Kind," (#10, ACQB), and got her music compared to Van Morrison (Americana Media Guide, Aug 2008) and her voice to Janis Joplin crossed with Joan Baez (Music Connection).
Tequila Time, the latest release from this prolific troubadour from Northern California, finds her once again pushing the edges of the Roots Americana movement, and upping the rock ante. Natasha James once again has some stellar musicians in her line-up. They recorded 17 songs in 4 days, including getting tones, she said on KRCB in an interview and live performance this month (Mindy's Mix, KRCB, 91.1 FM, Rohnert Park, CA). Players include Dave Aguilar (Norton Buffalo), with whom she did a duet that night, Ian Lamson (Elvin Bishop), Steve Evans (Coco Montoya, Elvin Bishop), Herman Eberitzsch (Malo, Lee Oskar), and Woody Vermeire (Commander Cody), all engineered by Ronnie Rivera, who also plays the drums in this stellar line-up.
This band gets people up on their feet from rock, country, bluegrass and blues persuasions, all knocked out by the originality of the tunes and the quality of James' voice; at times like Bonnie Raitt, at times like Janis Joplin and Emmylou Harris (Music Connection). We saw kids as young as 15 outside a club stop and stare in at the windows, swaying to a James' original! While the record is great, the live performance is where this band shines...these guys are players, and it shows.
Tequila Time debuted on the Roots Charts at #20 in the country, #19 in the state and #23 internationally. Not bad for a sophomore record.
Natasha James has just been officially nominated in the "Country Artist of the Year" category for the 20th Annual Los Angeles Music Awards....taking place in November at Paramount Studios in Hollywood, Calif. Natasha won "Country Album of the Year" last year at the 2009 L.A. Music Awards for Tequila Time.
NATASHA JAMES Interview, December, 2009
By Shauna O'Donnell - MUEN Magazine
WHO AND WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR MAJOR INFLUENCES WHEN IT COMES TO YOUR SONG WRITING?
Bob Dylan, certainly. His lyrical stream of consciousness made an indelible impression on me as a young person, I am speaking of his early material, Nashville Skyline, Blonde on Blonde. Jackson Browne, melodically and instrumentation and mood; John Prine, the master of the character driven song; Van Morrison, for the space in the music. It is so easy to make it cluttered, and what makes his stuff work so well is he gives it space; The Rolling Stones, for those interweaving guitar parts and background gospel harmonies on rock tracks with countryfied licks. We could stay in this question a LONG time...Little Feat, in particular, my friend and idol, Richie Hayward, who inspired my song, Get Out Of My Way, the drum arrangement, dropped beat, or bar of 3, whatever you want to call it. His drumming inspired that tune.
Natasha James, a singer-songwriter from Northern California, is a rising artist on the Americana music scene. Her debut album, Bad Judgements, features rock, country, bluegrass, and blues persuasions. Her sophomore release, Tequila Time, debuted on the Roots Charts at #20 in the country. We talked tequila, travel, and more in our Q&A with her:
Northern California Songstress, Natasha James, is making a name for herself in the Roots Music Scene. With a unique blend of bluesy rock, country and even flavors of bluegrass, James' grooves compliment her salty and sultry vocals. Her latest effort, Tequila Time, debuted on the Roots Charts t #20 in the country, #19 
