Acclaimed guitarist Colin James is heading back to the main roads of the blues, and he’s going first class, on Stony Plain/True North Records. After the success of his Blue Highways CD, the Canadian artist handpicked songs from some of the greatest blues artists, re-imagined a few and breathed new life into others. ” All my life I’ve tried to bring vitality to older songs,” James said. On Miles to Go, he brought in two originals—including the song in the video here, “40 Light Years.”—which fit perfectly with the nine covers (Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Blind Willie Johnson, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Little Willie John, Robert Johnson, etc.).

“This song was written with Tom Wilson (long-time friend and co-writer), Jesse O’Brien (keys) and myself. We started the day working on something else and at one point I went back to my song title list. I had been listening to a science show on the radio a few days earlier, heard the words ‘40 Light Years’ and wrote it down. I said the title out loud during the session and everyone liked the sound of it, and off we went. I love those random moments in song writing where chance, fate and creativity lead the way to unlikely ends.

“Blues has always been a pass-it-forward kind of thing,” James told Elmore. “It’s also surprisingly hard to write. You have to be careful how modern you get in your phrasing. Certain writers can write a song that sounds like it was done 40 years ago, but it’s deceptively hard.”

James reminded us that songwriting is only the start of getting music out to fans: “It was so great to work with my good friends James O’Mara and Kate McBride on this video. We have done quite a few album covers over the years, but this was only the second time we have worked on a video together.” Another adventure.

In the months leading up to the recording, James reacquainted himself with a beautiful red Gibson ES-335—just like the guitar he played as a teenager, but regretfully had to sell for rent money.  Thankfully, he’s traveled many miles, both literally and figuratively, since those days, and—again thankfully—has Miles to Go.

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