Having been a casual listener of James Hunter and his sweet voiced blue eyed soul for the last few years, I had several ideas in my head of how his live performance would play out. Fittingly, James and his band of talented musicians exceeded my expectations at every turn.
It was a rare rainy Friday night at the Sunset Strip House of Blues. James and his band came all the way from Essex, England, to promote their latest record The Hard Way, available on the Hear Music record label. Hunter warmed the crowd with his English charm bouncing between cuts from his current record and his previous effort People Gonna Talk. Crowd favorites “Jacqueline” and “Hand It Over” benefited from extended solos and breakdowns by everyone in the band. I personally feel any performance benefits from an artist paying reverence to another by peppering in a cover song or two, and on cue James and his band played two great deep cuts “Think” and “Baby Don’t Do It” by the R&B Soul group the “5” Royales.
During his hour long set, James sweat through his “business casual” attire with manicured guitar solos and pitch perfect vocals. On two occasions he uncorked his one legged sideways sashay that was so fluid I wondered if he was the one who had made the moonwalk famous.
As effortless as James and his band made the performance look, it was clear they were very well rehearsed and an incredibly tight knit group. It was a great way to spend a Friday night, and if for some reason you aren’t on the James Hunter train, I suggest you hop on board.
