Colin James, Matt Andersen, & Terra Lightfoot
Under 21 with Guardian
Colin James
With 21 studio albums, 8 Juno Awards, 31 Maple Blues Awards and multi-platinum record sales, Colin James remains at the top of his game, continuing to challenge himself musically.
His current release, Chasing the Sun, finds the blues-rock singer-songwriter’s electrifying new album featuring the kind of towering musical guests typically found on the other side of velvet ropes. Co-produced by Colin Linden, guest artists include Americana icon Lucinda Williams, bassist Darryl Jones and drummer Charley Drayton (who have backed Miles Davis and The Rolling Stones) plus American harmonica ace Charlie Musselwhite and gospel greats Ann and Regina McCrary.
His 2021 release, Open Road, for which he won a 2022 Juno Award for best Blues Album and was nominated for the Blues Foundation 2023 best Blues Rock Album (his first), is a celebration of personal connections. It includes original tunes written with long time collaborators as well as reinterpretations of covers by a diverse group of songwriters.
His 2018 album Miles To Go garnered worldwide attention, debuting on the Billboard Blues Charts and held a position on the RMR Blues Chart for 24 weeks, 14 weeks in the top 10.
Colin’s career is a timeline rich in highlights. His 1988 self-titled debut, featuring his two self-penned hits “Voodoo Thing” and “Five Long Years,” was the fastest-selling album in Canadian history. It won him his first Juno and an opening spot on tour with Keith Richards. His second album, Sudden Stop, featured his hit “Just Came Back,” which reached #3 on the U.S. radio charts and earned him the Juno Award for “Single of the Year.” Colin was next credited with launching the swing revival, thanks to his wildly popular Little Big Band, which has released four successful albums to date. In 2013 he was inducted into the Canadian Music Industry Hall of Fame.
However, it wasn’t until 2016’s Blue Highways that James found himself on a blues chart: the album spent 10 weeks at No. 1 on the Roots Music Report’s Blues Chart. It also landed him one of his biggest hits: “Riding in the Moonlight,” a Willie Dixon song that garnered millions of streams on Spotify. Colin has often been put in the rock category because of his early pop hits, but if you really look at his past there’s a lot of blues in there.
Over the years Colin has worked with some of the world’s most revered artists including, Bonnie Raitt, Albert Collins, Pops Staples, Robert Cray, Albert King, Keith Richards, Mavis Staples, Luther Allison, Roomful of Blues, Bobby King and Terry Evans, John Hammond Jr., The Chieftains, Carlos Santana, Jeff Healey, and Buddy Guy.
For over 35 years, Colin has been a consummate professional, a superb guitarist, and a musician’s musician. The confidence that comes with maturity can be heard in his voice and seen in his electrifying stage performance. He does what comes naturally – he always has – he knows no other way and no other life. Recently celebrating his 60th birthday, he still finds joy in making music and touring and loves what he does.
Matt Andersen
When Matt Andersen steps on stage, he brings a lifetime of music to every note he plays. His latest album, The Hammer & The Rose, is a veritable garden of heart; a (mostly) delicate collection of tender folk and stirring soul numbers that find the New Brunswick-born songwriter thoughtfully tending to the most important things in life. Andersen’s stage presence is informed by decades of cutting his teeth in dusty clubs, dim-lit bars, and grand theatres all over the world, delivering moving performances that run the gamut from intimate to wallshaking. In the studio, he’s always brought the same attention to detail and commitment to craft as he has to his live show, and the result - a multi-faceted and poignant body of work - has led him to amass over 33 million streams on Spotify and 30 million views on YouTube.
In addition to headlining major festivals, clubs and theatres throughout North America, Europe, and Australia, he has shared the stage and toured with Marcus King, Beth Hart, Marty Stuart, Greg Allman, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Randy Bachman, Serena Ryder, Tab Benoit, and more.
Andersen nabbed the 2013 and 2016 European Blues Awards for Best Solo/Acoustic Act, was the first ever Canadian to take home top honours in the solo category at the 2010 International Blues Challenge in Memphis, won the CIMA Road Gold award in 2015, and has won multiple Maple Blues Awards. Matt Andersen & The Big Bottle of Joy was nominated for a Juno Award in 2024.
Terra Lightfoot
With 2023's Healing Power, Terra Lightfoot showcases her considerable clout as a pop songsmith, guitarist and vocalist, delivering a dozen stunning tracks that together represent a career high. To describe Lightfoot's decade-plus musical evolution as astonishing is an understatement. On top of a pair of JUNO nominations and pair of long-list Polaris nods, her marathon tours have touched down in eight countries across four continents (including support slots for Bruce Cockburn, Blue Rodeo, Toad the Wet Sprocket, The Sheepdogs, and Willie Nelson). The set captures the crackling chemistry of the core live trio and Lightfoot's artistic range is again on full display. Healing Power delivers the peerless pop-rock album that fans have long known she's always had in her - a prismatic tour de force from the charismatic rocker.
Colin James
With 21 studio albums, 8 Juno Awards, 31 Maple Blues Awards and multi-platinum record sales, Colin James remains at the top of his game, continuing to challenge himself musically.
His current release, Chasing the Sun, finds the blues-rock singer-songwriter’s electrifying new album featuring the kind of towering musical guests typically found on the other side of velvet ropes. Co-produced by Colin Linden, guest artists include Americana icon Lucinda Williams, bassist Darryl Jones and drummer Charley Drayton (who have backed Miles Davis and The Rolling Stones) plus American harmonica ace Charlie Musselwhite and gospel greats Ann and Regina McCrary.
His 2021 release, Open Road, for which he won a 2022 Juno Award for best Blues Album and was nominated for the Blues Foundation 2023 best Blues Rock Album (his first), is a celebration of personal connections. It includes original tunes written with long time collaborators as well as reinterpretations of covers by a diverse group of songwriters.
His 2018 album Miles To Go garnered worldwide attention, debuting on the Billboard Blues Charts and held a position on the RMR Blues Chart for 24 weeks, 14 weeks in the top 10.
Colin’s career is a timeline rich in highlights. His 1988 self-titled debut, featuring his two self-penned hits “Voodoo Thing” and “Five Long Years,” was the fastest-selling album in Canadian history. It won him his first Juno and an opening spot on tour with Keith Richards. His second album, Sudden Stop, featured his hit “Just Came Back,” which reached #3 on the U.S. radio charts and earned him the Juno Award for “Single of the Year.” Colin was next credited with launching the swing revival, thanks to his wildly popular Little Big Band, which has released four successful albums to date. In 2013 he was inducted into the Canadian Music Industry Hall of Fame.
However, it wasn’t until 2016’s Blue Highways that James found himself on a blues chart: the album spent 10 weeks at No. 1 on the Roots Music Report’s Blues Chart. It also landed him one of his biggest hits: “Riding in the Moonlight,” a Willie Dixon song that garnered millions of streams on Spotify. Colin has often been put in the rock category because of his early pop hits, but if you really look at his past there’s a lot of blues in there.
Over the years Colin has worked with some of the world’s most revered artists including, Bonnie Raitt, Albert Collins, Pops Staples, Robert Cray, Albert King, Keith Richards, Mavis Staples, Luther Allison, Roomful of Blues, Bobby King and Terry Evans, John Hammond Jr., The Chieftains, Carlos Santana, Jeff Healey, and Buddy Guy.
For over 35 years, Colin has been a consummate professional, a superb guitarist, and a musician’s musician. The confidence that comes with maturity can be heard in his voice and seen in his electrifying stage performance. He does what comes naturally – he always has – he knows no other way and no other life. Recently celebrating his 60th birthday, he still finds joy in making music and touring and loves what he does.
Matt Andersen
When Matt Andersen steps on stage, he brings a lifetime of music to every note he plays. His latest album, The Hammer & The Rose, is a veritable garden of heart; a (mostly) delicate collection of tender folk and stirring soul numbers that find the New Brunswick-born songwriter thoughtfully tending to the most important things in life. Andersen’s stage presence is informed by decades of cutting his teeth in dusty clubs, dim-lit bars, and grand theatres all over the world, delivering moving performances that run the gamut from intimate to wallshaking. In the studio, he’s always brought the same attention to detail and commitment to craft as he has to his live show, and the result - a multi-faceted and poignant body of work - has led him to amass over 33 million streams on Spotify and 30 million views on YouTube.
In addition to headlining major festivals, clubs and theatres throughout North America, Europe, and Australia, he has shared the stage and toured with Marcus King, Beth Hart, Marty Stuart, Greg Allman, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Randy Bachman, Serena Ryder, Tab Benoit, and more.
Andersen nabbed the 2013 and 2016 European Blues Awards for Best Solo/Acoustic Act, was the first ever Canadian to take home top honours in the solo category at the 2010 International Blues Challenge in Memphis, won the CIMA Road Gold award in 2015, and has won multiple Maple Blues Awards. Matt Andersen & The Big Bottle of Joy was nominated for a Juno Award in 2024.
Terra Lightfoot
With 2023's Healing Power, Terra Lightfoot showcases her considerable clout as a pop songsmith, guitarist and vocalist, delivering a dozen stunning tracks that together represent a career high. To describe Lightfoot's decade-plus musical evolution as astonishing is an understatement. On top of a pair of JUNO nominations and pair of long-list Polaris nods, her marathon tours have touched down in eight countries across four continents (including support slots for Bruce Cockburn, Blue Rodeo, Toad the Wet Sprocket, The Sheepdogs, and Willie Nelson). The set captures the crackling chemistry of the core live trio and Lightfoot's artistic range is again on full display. Healing Power delivers the peerless pop-rock album that fans have long known she's always had in her - a prismatic tour de force from the charismatic rocker.