Early James, an Alabama native and the latest signing to Dan Auerbach's Easy Eye Sound roster, releases his debut album, Singing for My Supper, via Easy Eye and Nonesuch Records on March 13, 2020. The album spans hard-charging blues, wistful folk, and ages-old pop crooning, anchored by the singer's voice that oscillates from gravel-gruff shout to a honey-smooth whisper. James' inspirations run from Fiona Apple and Tom Waits to the Southern gothic poets, as heard in the album's darker themes and in the wry humor with which he writes about them. Singing for My Supper is available for pre-order on all formats here.
Today, Early James also shares "
Blue Pill Blues," the first single from
Singing for My Supper, via an interview with
American Songwriter. American Songwriter calls Early an "emerging alt-folk star" and says of the song: "'Blue Pill Blues' is a stellar first track and one that showcases the unique - and quick - transitions that James' vocals can make. He deftly switches from a melodic whisper to a gravely, if not guttural, growl to drive home his all-too-relatable lyrics." Listen to the song and read James' interview
here.
Auerbach, who decided he needed to produce the singer's debut album after watching just two seconds of a video of James performing, says: "Some people are good singers, and some people are better than good singers; they just have this great form of expression."
Early James has confirmed a headlining show at Nashville's
Analog on February 6th, as well as tour dates in the new year with The Lone Bellow, Shovels & Rope, And
The Marcus King Band (full dates below). Tickets and more information for all dates are available
here.
Early James' debut features ten wide-ranging songs, co-produced by Auerbach and David "Fergie" Ferguson, is full of world-weary wisdom. "Blue Pill Blues" details a period when James, who was being treated for depression, quit his antipsychotic medication cold turkey. "High Horse" is a lament of the ways his adolescent excitement faded with the arrival of the vices of adulthood, while "Easter Eggs" finds the songwriter coming to terms with some of the darker sides of his heredity.
As soon as he was old enough, Early James moved from Troy to Birmingham, where he's become an integral part of the city's thriving music scene over the past half-decade. His diverse experience in the Birmingham scene has helped mold him into a singular talent whose sound remains uncategorizable. Mother Jones says, "Early James is the type of guy that might have walked into Sun Studios in the 1950s to record an unhinged rockabilly single with
Sam Phillips ... James sounds like an obscure, ribald 1920's crooner time-warped into a 1990s heavy-alternative band."
Coming out of a local music scene as first-rate as Birmingham has also helped sculpt James into a songwriter who obsesses over the craft and texture of every word he's ever sung. "Every line has to mean something to him, personally," says Auerbach. "It's not good enough to just write a good song, it needs to have a deeper meaning. He's unlike any person I've ever worked with. He's not writing a song to be universal; he's writing a song for him."
Singing for My Supper is the thirteenth release on Dan Auerbach's Easy Eye Sound label, which is distributed by Auerbach's label Nonesuch Records. Easy Eye Sound is built equally around Auerbach's Easy Eye Studio in Nashville, where
The Black Keys recorded their last two albums, as well as the collection of famous session musicians that have come to call the studio home. Subsequent releases have included records by Yola, Marcus King, Robert Finley, Kendell Marvel, Leo Bud Welch, Jimmy "Duck" Holmes,
Shannon & The Clams,
Shannon Shaw, Sonny Smith, Dee White, and Link Wray. Auerbach says, "Sometimes I feel I created my own Field of Dreams. I built the studio because I knew something was going to happen. I built it to accommodate live musicians playing, and then all of a sudden the best musicians in Nashville show up, and it's happening."
Signing for My Supper Track Listing
1. Blue Pill Blues
2.
Stockholm Syndrome
3. Way of the Dinosaur
4.
Clockwork Town
5. Easter Egg
6. It Doesn't Matter Now
7. High Horse
8. All Down Hill
9. Gone as a Ghost
10. Dishes in the Dark
Early James Tour Dates
January 31 /// Fonda Theatre /// Los Angeles, CA*
February 6 /// The Analog /// Nashville, TN
February 13 /// Georgia Theatre /// Athens, GA&
February 15 /// The Social /// Orlando, FL&
February 26 /// The Heights Theater /// Houston, TX+
February 27 /// Scoot Inn /// Austin, TX+
February 29 /// Granada Theater /// Dallas, TX+
March 2 /// Knuckleheads Saloon /// Kansas City, MO+
March 4 /// Bluebird Theater /// Denver, CO+
March 6 /// The Commonwealth Room /// Salt Lake City, UT+
March 7 /// The Olympic Venue /// Boise, ID+
March 9 /// Imperial Vancouver /// Vancouver CAN+
March 10 /// Neptune Theatre /// Seattle, WA+
March 11 /// Revolution Hall /// Portland, OR+
March 13 /// The Filmore /// San Francisco, CA+
March 14 /// Pappy & Harriet's /// Pioneertown, CA+
April 2 /// Varsity Theater /// Minneapolis, MN+
April 3 /// Majestic Theater /// Madison, WI+
April 8 /// Variety Playhouse /// Atlanta, GA+
April 10 /// Haw River Ballroom /// Saxapahaw, NC+
April 14 /// The Opera House /// Toronto, CAN+
April 15/// Union Transfer /// Philadelphia, PA+
April 16 /// Paradise Rock Club /// Boston, MA+
April 17 /// Webster Hall /// New York, NY+
*The
Marcus King Band
+ The Lone Bellow
& Shovels and Rope
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