Early James – Medium Raw
Easy Eye Sound
12 Tracks – 47 minutes
Early James, nee Fredrick James Mullis Jr, was born in Troy, Alabama. He started playing guitar at age 16 and quickly became an opening act for a local band. He started writing his own music for those performances.
At age 21, he moved to Birmingham and started playing gigs with his own band. Dan Auerbach, the co-founder of The Black Keys and owner of the Easy Eye Sound heard James playing, liked his style, and asked if he could produce James’ debut album. That album, Singing for My Supper, was released in 2020. A second album, Strange Time to Be Alive. followed in 2022. Additional singles and EPs were released along the way leading to the current album.
Auerbach produced this album but felt that the album should be recorded in an old house similar to old Arhoolie Records recordings. A house in Nashville that was over 100 years old owned by Buddy Jackson, a photographer and artist, fit the bill. Using vintage equipment with each of the performers set up in separate rooms, the recordings were made “au naturel“, rather exactly as you hear them.
With James on vocals and guitar, Adrian Marmolejo on bass, Jeffrey Clemens on drums and Sam Bacco on percussion, the band recorded six previously unrecorded songs written by James, and one previously released song, “Dig To China” from an early EP. In addition, four top Nashville writers contributed additional songs to complete the album
The album kicks off in high style with “Steely Knives” with James wailing vocals backed by his acoustic guitar as he concludes “it’s all over now, I’m a dead man walking”. Next he says. “Nothing Surprises Me Anymore” “Lightning better strike me twice, that’s all I’m asking for”. Next in a slight country swing with a “Tin Foil Hat” in place, he determines “the man’s gotta another way just to bring us down. It’s an electric sleuth for to pry the truth. Lying, lying, lying just ain’t no use”
He then questions “Did I fall in love with the villain? Someone who’d kill to make a living? Well, I’ll never die the hero, so let me “Go Down Swinging”. On “Rag Doll” he declares “So I had to cut my strings, Maybe lose the cape, make my escape, felt like cutting a vein, but to her I was cutting the reins.” In a bouncy country sounding song, he declares “one day we’ll ride that “Gravy Train”.
He then states in a rocking “I Could Just Die Right Now”, “I don’t mind if I do. It gets worse ‘fore it gets better, I’m pretty good at singing the blues”. He expresses a concern for the future on “Unspeakable Thing” citing “Seems like we are all sinking, we’ll die like dogs, in the maw of an unspeakable thing”. On “Beauty Queen” he advises her to “learn to keep your nose clean. Don’t ya settle on someone else’s dreams.”
“Dig to China” encourages the effort to keep working at a task no matter how hard, noting “Some folks got it so easy, some folks don’t”. “Upside Down Umbrella” perhaps offers some positive hope as he tells “If life gives ya lemons, just give ’em to me, I’m the upside-down umbrella man. Lordy let me give ’em a squeeze”. The album concludes with ” I Got This Problem” “when I’m reading a book, know there’s an ending, so I can’t help but look, steal from the future. Enjoy the fire ‘fore we all turn to ash”.
It is hard to put a label on James’ music. His lyrics are dark and frequently nebulous to the point that I tried to refrain myself from my trying to give them definition as my likely interpretations would flitter away among the determinations of others digging through the words. Just listening to the songs without a plunge through the full lyrics would not do them justice.
Do I think the album is blues or even rock blues? Probably not, although there might be touches mixed in there. His music is unique and undefinable in the same manner as his lyrics. His singing is a wail sometimes coming across as a slightly smoother Reverend Peyton or with the rockier tones of Tom Waits. All that said, Auerbach has identified the aspects of James’ approach that leaves an awe in the listener that drags you into the raw depths of James’ work.
