Early James

One Liner: Blues rock magic from another dude in Dan Auerbach's stable

Wikipedia Genre: Americana, alternative country, alternative rock, blues, folk, folk rock
Home: Birmingham, Alabama

Poster Position: 25
Weekend Two Only.  Friday.

Thoughts:  Okay, hell yeah.  Just the initial guitar licks of the first song has me in on this one.  That is some guitar goodness right there.  Comes on like it is about to be a jam band meander, but then when the vocals come in you can tell that it is more of a bluesy guitar rock stunner.  This song jams.  "Blue Pill Blues"  1.4 million streams.

Before you watch that video, and see the label that he is signed to, I require you to make one guess as to which label out there is going to have a throwback blues rock guy signed to their roster.  If you said Third Man, I can see it, but it is almost always going to be Dan Auerbach's Easy Eye Sound.  My man looks like he takes a lot more than just the boner pills, man.  I wonder if he actually has eyes, or if he just has to squint his eyelids to handle the fact that he lost his eyes by taking too many boner pills.  Homie looks like Chris Pratt staring into the sun in a hat made from a tea cozy.  But whatever, he can look like he wants if he is going to churn out freaking killer songs like that.  I love it.

Fredrick James Mullis, Jr. is our man here.  He was sixteen when he received a guitar for Christmas and started doing music.  A friend was the frontman for a band called Fire Mountain who told Early that he could open for them if he would write his own stuff.  He moved from Troy, Alabama to Birmingham when he was 21, and Auerbach spotted him.  They went into the studio and Auerbach produced his debut (and only) album, Singing for My Supper.  Released in 2020.  He was supposed to them go out on tour supporting the Black Keys, The Lone Below, The Marcus King Band, and Shovels and Rope, but that fell through because of the dumb pandemic.  I dig this description from the New York Times: "tattered and nervous, with a grainy quaver."

No other track breaks the million stream barrier, but he's got one with 463k streams.  "It Doesn't Matter Now."  But I figure I should check out the newest single instead, to see what he is bringing to the table here two years after the debut album.  This is "What a Strange Time to Be Alive."  30k streams.  2022 release.

Aw man, pizza and beer sounds really good right now.  Also, he definitely has eyes, but when he sings he really likes to squint them.  That is a good, laid-back shamble of a track.  Edges into country, but still bluesy as hell.  This is that classic Auerbach touch - like he's done with Yola or Robert Finley - keep them using classic instruments and pushing forward with their skill as solid singers and instrumentalists, without relying on fancy mixing or studio trickery.  The single before this was "Tumbleweed," and its got some serious guitarwork and good groove.  I really like this stuff.

I'm sure he'll get a garbage slot to play, but I'd definitely check this out.