Fingers will fly and voices soar when an Okotoks talent pays tribute to his musical hero right at home.
Award-winning multi-genre singer/songwriter Jim Reader is bringing classic ’70s music to the stage with An Evening of James, featuring the timeless iconic folk music of James Taylor, at the Rotary Performing Art Centre Feb. 23 at 7:30 p.m.
Taylor is a five-time Grammy Award winning American singer/songwriter and guitarist. One of the best-selling music artists of all time, he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2000.
“He was my favourite when I was growing up,” said Reader. “All my songwriting over the years was based on his more than three cord songs. His cords and his picking were really an inspiration for me way back then. I modelled my own stuff after his stuff. His songs are uplifting.”
A song that really struck Reader was a song that made Taylor famous, Wandering.
“It’s the first one I ever played professionally,” said Reader. “I went to his concert when he played here a year ago April. It was a huge concert with big screens. At the beginning of the concern he came out just him and his guitar and played Wandering.”
Reader said he loves the song for its simplicity and great chords.
“Musically I’ve used not a lot of his progressions, but a lot of his cord variations - just the melody and what he can do with it,” he said. “It’s an old traditional song.”
Rather than imitate Taylor’s talent, Reader created re-imagined versions of his music that fits his own playing style and voice.
“I thought if God ever had a voice it would be his,” he said. “He’s just got an awesome voice and his picking style is great.”
Reader has more than 40 years experience in the music industry, with the last 15 in roots, western and cowboy genres after spending his earlier years singing rock, pop and country - mostly south of the border.
He got an early start singing solo in his first music festival at the age of six and picked up skills on the guitar at a young age.
Over the years, Reader developed a unique fingerpicking style that became his own.
With his distinctive guitar style and vocal range, his transition to An Evening of James a year ago was natural, yet plenty of hard work.
“The picking and the timing and to get it all hard wired and for me not to think and just work the flow out took a lot of time,” he said. “You’ve got to play every song about 100 times to get hard wired.”
Performing a re-imagined performance was a lot of adjusting for Reader, who spent most of his career performing original music.
“I’ve had this songwriters curse for decades,” he said. “The songwriters curse is that you feel because you write music that you should be playing 95 to 100 per cent original music all the time. I was stuck into that groove and finally I swallowed my songwriters’ pride and here I am playing an entire night with one of my songs out of over 20.
“It’s fun. They are way better songs than mine.”
In his musical heyday, Reader celebrated a lot of musical successes south of the border opening for icons like Kenny Rogers, BJ Thomas and Tommy James and the Shondells while accumulating songwriting and performing awards and accolades.
Several of his songs and all three albums received nominations in the roots/western genre in the U.S., including Western Album of the Year from the National Traditional Country Music Association.
Reader also wrote theme music for corporate and special events, including the theme song for the Western Canada Summer Games.
Stepping out of that spotlight into one that pays tribute to the iconic James Taylor has its benefits.
Among them is the opportunity to perform alongside his daughters Julie and Jacqui Reader.
“They are fabulous singers, both of them,” he said. “They’re singing with me on probably 65 per cent of the songs. They’ve got wonderful voices and I’ve always wanted to sing with them. I thought getting a family thing going with them would be just awesome.”
Julie and Jacqui, who moved up the vocal ranks in school choirs and bands through the Foothills School Division in Okotoks, provide tight three-part family harmonies for An Evening of James, explained Reader.
“Family harmonies are sometimes really unique and you can get a really nice blend of sounds and we certainly have that,” he said. “This music, whether you heard it or not, is going to be pleasing to the ear.”
One of Reader’s favourite songs to sings with his daughters is Shower the People.
“He often finishes his show with Shower the People,” he said. “Our harmonies on it is so powerful.”
The Readers are supported on stage by Neil Henry on keyboards and Wes Caswell on bass.
Tickets to attend An Evening of James are available at http://jimreader.eventbrite.com or Cornerstone Chiropractic Clinic in Okotoks.
