Watsonville Troubador Returns—To Soquel—This Wednesday

I say this on my website a lot, but as much as I love writing songs and playing music, the real dividend of this little endeavor has always been the cool people I meet along the way. It's even more interesting when I  meet another songwriter and we realize that we likely met years before. 

One-time Watsonville resident James Hurley is a full-time, hits the road and never looks back troubadoure in the purest sense of the word. He travels and plays his songs, one town at a time, and slowly builds his audience  along the way. We officially met at a music conference in Irvine a few years ago. He played a show here in town at last spring.

When he came by the house to chat on my "Songs and Stories" podcast that afternoon, he casually mentioned that his family travelled a lot when he was a kid. They, in fact, lived out on Casserly Road for a long time. We were both sure we no doubt had to meet years earlier, this being such a small town and all.  (James also spent much of that day reaquainting himeself with our local geography and old landmarks, whichy you can hear about in the interview.) 

As a songwriter, James brings a very cool jazz-inspired playing style to accompany a very literate, and interesting body of songs. My favorite is always going to be "The Vampires Live in Southern California" off his third record, "Tempest In A Teacup." The title alone tells you he's more than a little familiar with the L.A. music business.

Because he's continually on the road, he doesn't make it through our little 'burg that often. However, this Wednesday, you can see James do his solo thing at The Ugly Mug in Soquel. The Mug is at 4640 Soquel Dr. Show starts at 7:30 p.m., and the cover is a measly $10. 

If you do go, be sure to tell James you're from the old hometown.