Shawn James comes by his blues bona fides honestly, he was born on September 23, 1986 in Chicago, Illinois. He was raised on the city’s South Side, a place that produced such legendary figures as Bo Diddley, Junior Wells, Willie Dixon, and many others. He learned to sing as a boy, taking lessons in a variety of styles. A capable multi-instrumentationalist, James began his solo career in earnest in 2012 with the release of his solo LP Shadows, a collection of songs that revealed his talent for emotional vocals and playing, as well as his debt to the history of blues and soul. He put together a regular backing band, The Shapeshifters, and would release five albums with them between 2013 and 2015. He returned to solo billing with 2016’s On the Shoulders of Giants. He toured extensively, easily racking up over 200 dates a year. His music has appeared on a variety of television shows, and he had an unexpected viral hit in 2016 when “Through the Valley”, a track from Shadows, was utilized in an ad for an upcoming video game and led to a sharp spike in streams for the track. He took a three-year break from albums before issuing 2019’s The Dak & The Light and he started the next decade with 2020’s The Guardian Collection.
