Since his debut album, …Believe What I Say, British soul singer James Hunter has been championed by Van Morrison. Although very much in line with Morrison's envelopment and reinterpretation of American R&B, Hunter's music is more retro, floating his own songwriting on the spirits of Sam Cooke and Jackie Wilson. With a groove that's laced with backing vocals and string arrangements from the Church of Motown, and peppered with sweet sax punctuation and seductive guitar lines, Hunter is in line to inherit Morrison's throne one day.
Kicking off his career under the name Howlin' Wilf, Hunter was first spotted by Morrison in the early '90s in a club in Wales. Morrison invited him to be a member of his touring Rhythm & Blues Revue, which exposed him to the talents of John Lee Hooker, Junior Wells and Jimmy Witherspoon. Hunter can be heard on Morrison's A Night In San Francisco and Days Like This; Morrison returned the favor by singing on …Believe What I Say. Hunter's debut was followed by Kick It Around (2001) and People Gonna Talk (2006), which was nominated for a Grammy for Best Traditional Blues Album.
Hunter writes the majority of his material, but when he does record covers, he chooses them wisely — "Lover's Question" made popular by Clyde McPhatter; "Ain't Nothing You Can Do" and "Turn On Your Love Light," hits for Bobby "Blue" Bland; and Ray Charles' "Hallelujah, I Love Her So." He likes to record live in the studio without a lot of fuss, and his guests have included American R&B singer Doris Troy, and on his most recent album, The Hard Way, New Orleans R&B icon Allen Toussaint.
Provenance: Colchester, England
Latest Release: The Hard Way (2008)
© 2008 Nigel Music Media LLC. Used by permission.
James Hunter
