James Meston

For the British civil servant and political figure, see James Meston, 1st Baron Meston.

"Sweet Baby" James Meston (born 1975) is an Adelaide, Australia-based Blues guitarist who was named as Official Ambassador of the 2007 Australian Blues Festival. He has shared the stage with Blues-rocker Jeff Healy and Canadian Blues queen Sue Foley. James was also the subject of a 2-page feature article in the 7 April issue of Australian Guitar Magazine.[1]

James started performing in Adelaide bands in 1993 at the age of 18, including "Greg Baker's Blues Party" and "Blind Dog Taylor & The Healers". In 1997, he relocated to London, England and through regular jamming at the high-profile Monday night blues jam at "The Weavers Arms" pub he managed to go on to do regular work with David Hadley-Ray, Pete Brown and a short stint with "The Big Town Playboys", filling in for regular guitarist Andy Fairweather-Low while he was on tour with Eric Clapton in 1998.

Since returning to Australia at the end of 1998, James has worked as both a trio and, since 2002, as a duo with drummer Rob Eyers in "Sweet Baby James and Rob Eyers". Their 2005 album "Rhythm 'n' Blues" (Black Market Music (record label)) was well received by audiences and critics, and their new album is due out in July/August 2009. Rhythms Magazine said this in a 2008 issue of their performance at the Australian Blues Music Festival: "Sweet Baby James and Rob Eyers, these guys are fantastic, their two-piece guitar/drum combo outshoots the White Stripes, the Black Keys, the Mess Hall, the Fumes, anyone you care to mention". [2] James has also done a number of session guitar appearances on albums by Brian Cadd, The 3 Dolls, Heather Frahn, Charlotte Mudge and Raw Honey.

Stylistically, his current sound is influenced by R. L. Burnside, Elmore James, Muddy Waters and Sue Foley. [3] He has always used Fender electric guitars and Maton acoustic guitars. He endorses amplifiers from Peavey Electronics, Stobie & Co Glass Guitar Slides [4] and Pure Tone Guitar Strings.[5]

References

  1. ↑ "MusicSA". MusicSA. 2014-06-04. Retrieved 2014-06-30.
  2. ↑ "Sweet Baby James & Rob Eyers". Sweetbabyblues.com. Retrieved 2014-06-30.
  3. ↑ "Australia's online music community". FasterLouder. Retrieved 2014-06-30.
  4. ↑ "Stobie & Co Bottleneck Slides: Glass Guitar Slides Handcrafted in Torrensville, South Australia". Stobieandco.com. Retrieved 2014-06-30.
  5. ↑ Archived 2 January 2009 at the Wayback Machine
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