Biography

Beautiful harmonies in these Americana tracks by Emmy-nominated television writer-producer James Kahn, backed up by greats David West (Cache Valley Drifters) on guitar, banjo and mandolin, Gabe Witcher (Punch Brothers) on violin, John McFee (Doobie Brothers) on pedal steel, and Nashville recording artist Kate Wallace on backup vocals. Heartfelt and personal, these tracks range from Irish flavored to blues to country to New Orleans jazz.

BIO
James Kahn's (www.thatjameskahn.com) first career was as an Emergency Room doctor, but his first love has always been writing. He wrote major science fiction novels (World Enough and Time, Time's Dark Laughter), and appeared in E.T. The Extraterrestrial as one of the doctors resuscitating the little alien, which led to his writing a string of novelizations for Spielberg and Lucas (Return of the Jedi, Poltergeist, The Goonies, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom). He proceeded to have a long writing-producing career in television, including Melrose Place, Star Trek: Voyager, and Xena: Warrior Princess, to name just a few; and has recently produced a feature film, The Bet. (http://pro.imdb.com/name/nm0434851/) Music has always been close to his heart, but he didn't start taking it seriously as a vocation until a few years ago. Since then he's written and performed two CDs of Americana, and is currently working on a third, of children's songs. His early musical influences came during "the great folk scare of the 60's" - Pete Seeger, The Weavers, The Kingston Trio, Belafonte, and early Dylan, blended with the country sounds of the Louvin Brothers, the Everly Brothers, Doc Watson, and others. These days he identifies most with the sophisticated lyrics of Paul Simon, the harmonies of The Band, and the mellow tones of James Taylor. Kahn thinks of himself primarily as a storyteller. Songs are just one more way of telling a tale, the music anchoring the words with a primal kind of soul.