Biography

James McCandless was born August, 1944 in Hanford, Washington where his parents were defense workers. After World War II, he and his family lived for several years in Montana before moving to Chicago. He began playing guitar at age 7, and played his first professional gig at a high school graduation party when he was 14. As a youngster he poured over recordings by the Weavers, Leadbelly, Odetta, Big Bill Broonzy, Rock and Roll records, and Andres Segovia.

After high school and after serving an apprenticeship as an electrician, he concentrated on learning as much as he could about the guitar and songwriting. James took classic guitar lessons with a teacher from Spain, and studied Celtic music with some of the finest Irish musicians in the world: Martin Hayes, John Williams, Liz Carroll, and Joseph Sobel. He began writing songs in the 60’s and, since then, has recorded eight albums of original music, all of which have been highly praised. James has performed all across the USA and Ireland, and his songs have been covered by several American and Irish recording artists. His music is played on NPR, the BBC and the RTE.

James taught guitar at the Old Town School of Folk Music for 8 years, and at Hogeye Music for 10 years. He writes story songs about the Old West, romantic songs about his childhood and his wife, and exaggerated comic songs from his imagination. He is currently based out of Chicago, and performs mainly in the Midwest.