Cycling Celebrity
Juno-winning blues guitarist Colin James finds inspiration on the road
In the quietest moments, inspiration strikes. That’s the case for six-time Juno award-winner Colin James, known for such classic hits as “Five Long Years,” and “Voodoo Thing.” Mindfulness for this Canadian musician often comes when he is on a bike, heading down a familiar road.
“I don’t like the regiment of riding in groups and I don’t like talking when I’m riding,” James said. “Riding, for me, is a solitary adventure, a place to clear your mind. I just love being out on that road.”
Throughout the years, James has written many compositions while riding. The 53 year old recalls one of the more memorable of these experiences that resulted in a song co-written with Ron Sexsmith: “Finally Wrote a Song for You,” off James’s 2012 release Fifteen.
“A few years ago, I pulled over halfway through my ride,” James says. “I had this melody in my head and lyrics that explored the idea of finally writing a song for someone I had always wanted to write a song for. I sent a text to my friend Ron, who was touring in England at the time, and I sang the lyrics I had come up with into my iphone. By the time I got home from my ride, and into my garage, Ron had written two more verses.”
I spoke with James last December as the rhythm and blues king was taking a break at home in North Vancouver. He was doing some riding with his son, who was home from Europe. James had spent the year on the road promoting his 18th album, Blue highways, and planned to hit the road again in 2018.
He guessed that his first two-wheeled ride must have been a Mustang with flared-out handlebars. “We had a tricycle gang, my buddies and me,” he laughed. “Bikes, as a kid, gave me that freedom to go where I needed to go.”
Growing up in Regina, the musician biked all the time. After moving to a mountain community in his formative years, cycling took a back seat to honing his guitar licks. The roads were too steep and there was nowhere to go.
Today, while the breathtaking North Shore Mountains surround James’s home, he doesn’t worry about climbing them. There are plenty of trails and new roads to discover, such as the path along the Stanley Park Seawall. “I bike every day, and I try to go at least 30 km,” he said. “The nice thing about Vancouver is that I can cycle all year if I’m lucky.”
Recently, the guitar ace bought a Specialized Diverge with the Future Shock suspension in the head tube. The bike gives him more confidence. He also feels safer, knowing that he can go off-road if someone clogs the bike lane. James usually alternates between road cycling in the city and mountain biking on the gravel roads at the cottage. Throughout the years, he’s had the chance to cycle in Tuscany with Gold Medal Plates, and hopes to travel more on two wheels in the future in places such as Spain and Russia.
“Cycling brings out the child in you, in a good way,” James said. “Riding a bike is something we’ve done since we got our independence. There is nothing like feeling the wind in your hair as you cruise down the road on your bike.”