Jim performs mostly solo but has an extended family of player who he works with from time to time. These include: Billy Oskay, Mark Ettinger, Vince Herman, Rob Wasserman, Theresa Andersson, Grant Dermody, Orville Johnson, Artis, Scott Law and Erin Corday
Influences
Top of the list: Lightnin' Hopkins. After that anybody who can play a few chords and make it sound like more. Anybody who can carry on a conversation with a guitar in their hands and make it natural. Christy Moore. Michael O' Connelly. Mikael Wiehe. Erin Corday. Grace Hearn. Steve Earl. Leadbelly. Car horns, dogs, arguments, good books, bad movies, romance, irony, fables, street fights, insights and intrigues, police raids, and almost anything that gets into my head that I can't shake off. Accidental poetry makes the best lyric. Rants and gambles. A good story is better than what really happened anyway.
Sounds Like
Somebody thinking out loud with a guitar. Stick your neck out and slam it with a music critic and that's what it sounds like. Somebody once said, if it's worth talking about it's worth singing about. That's what it sounds like.
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New Video!! Trailer for the upcoming indy documentary "Protest Nation." Song about the RNC in St Paul. Check out their web site - www.protestnation.org
Two songs for the outgoing George W - GOOD RIDDANCE!!!
On the street with Artis the Spoonman
"When Johnny Comes Marching Home" - Seattle anti war rally, March 18, 2006 - from Talkingstick TV
"Head Full Of Pictures" - A visual collage created by Green Visions Productions. Pretty strong stuff, I think.
"Over My Dead Body" w/Joe Martin at Seattle Veterans For Peace Benefit, July 2007 - video by Todd Boyle
Jim started out in California where he was born. He lived in the Bay Area and caught the tail end of the 60's stuff. Garcia played pedal steel down the street, Kaukenon showed up for jam sessions, and everybody got stoned. New Year's Day of 1970 he hit the road by thumb to New York City and Greenwich Village. He stayed there for a year, living in elevator stair wells and on roof tops, under park benches and in borrowed closets. At the the end of that year he hooked up with some people from Seattle. They were going home, want to come along? Sounded great - he'd never heard of the place before.
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The last folk club closed soon after he got to Seattle and that, he says, was the best thing that could have happened. If there was no scene the he would make up his own. Which he did in short order. He started by playing the breaks inbetween rock band sets. Three breaks a night, twenty minutes each. Get the attention, sing the songs, pass the hat. Then playing at the campus of the University Of Washington. Gather a crowd, sing the songs, leave the hat on the ground. Improvisation was the key. Jim discovered that if he sang about the people as he saw them - put them literally into the songs - they would hang around to see what else might happen. And the improvs might soon became real songs. It all fell into place. In 1974 he was faced with arrest for singing on lower Pike Street and spent that summer changing the laws concerning street music. Seattle became and still is open.
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1977 he went to Europe for the first time, performing at the Cambridge Folk Festival. He got great press and wound up doing tours - England, Wales, Ireland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, the Netherlands, things were getting real busy. A couple of songs he had written were picked up by an Irish band called Moving Hearts and one them, Hiroshima-Nagasaki Russian Roulette, entered the charts at number one. It has since become a part of the Irish national repertoire.
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In '83 he came back to the States to find that a second rate actor had become president and the IRA was an individual retirement account. He was a little confused for a while but soon began experimenting with musical approaches. Trios, duets, a seven piece electric band. It was an noncommittal soup for a few years. In '89 he teamed up with Artis the Spoonman, of Soundgarden fame, for a strange but wonderful duo approach that has lasted and still happens to this day from time to time. Simultaneously he created a real tight four piece band called Zero Tolerance, a name taken from Bush senior's anti-drug policy. The band lasted for three years and made one recording. He began going back to Europe. Germany, Irealnd. Sometimes alone, sometimes with Artis. He recreated his solo performance. He wrote a lot of songs.
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In late November of 1999 the WTO came to Seattle, precipitating what is now a famous popular uprising. Jim spent all 4 days downtown and had many near permanent relationships with law enforcement. The events of that week opened the eyes of a lot of people and his songs gained weight. About the same time he created a relationship with Billy Oskay and Mark Ettinger, two musicians with whom he has recorded and continues to work. Billy owns a studio near Portland, OR, and Mark plays bass and lives in New York, when he's not juggling with the Flying Karamozov Brothers. Their first CD was called "Music From Big Red," the name of Billy's studio. The song that Jim wrote about the WTO, Didn't We, was the catalyst for the project and is featured on the rceord.
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9-11 happened and the weights got serious. Jim responded with song, and a CD called Collateral Damage was born, several songs of which got frequent play on Democracy Now! Three CDs came out afterwards, a compilation, a Nashville thing, and a collection of Seattle songs. Now the 2nd Big Red has just come out. It's called Head Full Of Pictures and deals boldly with our current state of affairs. Jim continues to tour in Europe - he is going to be in England and Ireland early 2007. He is soon going for his second national festival appearance in Taiwan.
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Nobody knows what the future holds but, like they say, it should be interesting. And Jim will probably be there.
Ciao Jim ,Thank you for the add and the friendship. you are very good, I like your stupendous music a lot, you are fantastic ..really. you are a myth for me;-) talk to you soon, and all of my best wishes to always listen to your good music. all the best.. from italy neal
Thank you so much Jim for honoring us with your precious friendship.... We love your music ! We hope your morning is blessed with Love and that the adventures of your Life feel like a ride on the mystery train of Pure Joy.....Thanks again !!
I hope to see you again at Folklife. I will be performing there on Monday May 25th @ 12:20 p.m. on the Mural Stage. Here is our next show prior to that.
From Vancouver B.C! The Sumner Brothers with Howlin Houndog & Infamous Loosers and Lee Rude (solo)
15/05/2009 9:00 PMatMix 6006 12th Ave S, Seattle, Washington 98108 Cost: $7 We will be playing club Mix in Georgetown on Friday May 15th 2009 again with Vancouver BC’s Sumner Brothers and Seattle’s own Lee Rude! Doors at 8 p.m. and the fun begins at 9 p.m. Come out and support all the bands. We look forward to seeing you there!
Boy, I've been hoping to catch a show for a while, but you are a busy bee elsewhere now that I can! ;) I'm looking forward to Folklife (I always do) and I'll definitely be looking for you there! I see your playing in Portland soon - I'll send my sister a message, maybe she can tell me how it was. Have fun!
I bought the "Human..." retrospective album and I am playing 'Anna Mae' over and over and over again...it makes me kinda teary eyed to see all those old photos of you and your handsome self. See you soon. Lizzie
"I'm just in the door from the Jim Page gig in De Barra's and I'm buzzin. What an incredible night's entertainment. The guy just blew me away. Whatever else you get up to in the near fututre do NOT miss a Jim Page gig if he is playing anywhere near you. I really mean that. The guy is amazing."
Richie in Clonakilty enjoyed his evening with you, Jim! :-))
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