James Southwell (born 1 July 1988) is an Australian guitar player, singer, songwriter. In addition to his releases, he has toured Australia and New Zealand extensively from 2006 playing in excess of 2000 shows, including many festival appearances.

Biography

Early life

Born and raised in

Bowning Bowning is a small town in the Southern Tablelands, west of Yass on the Hume Highway in Yass Valley Shire. Bowning is an aboriginal word meaning 'big hill'. At the , Bowning and the surrounding area had a population of 573. Nearby Bowning ...

, New South Wales, James Southwell is the son of Tony Southwell, he was raised by Tony and his second wife Michelle along with James' siblings. Tony divorced his first wife, Penny, early in James' life. James has four sisters (Natalie, Kate, Shelby and Daytona) and one brother (Creepy Uncle Craigy-boy Southwell). Southwell first became interested in playing guitar when he received one for Christmas when he was seven years old from his mother & father and his uncle, Rick Gooding. James now lives in

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

, ACT with his wife Alanna, and daughters Magnolia & Lenora.

Musical career

Southwell left school in 2005 to pursue his dream of being a full-time guitar player. His first album, ''Dark Angel'', was recorded at

Kevin Borich Kevin Nicholas Borich (born 27 October 1948, Huapai, North Island, New Zealand) is a New Zealand-born Australian guitarist and singer-songwriter. He was a founding member of The La De Das, the leader of Kevin Borich Express, and a founding memb ...

's studio in December 2005. Mark Kennedy on drums,

Harry Brus Harry Brus (born April 1949, in Graz, Austria) is an Australian bass player and guitarist, best known for his work with Matt Finish, Kevin Borich, Renée Geyer, Australian Crawl, Leo Sayer, Marcia Hines, Jimmy Barnes, Ross Wilson and Billy Thor ...

on bass and Borich played on ''Dark Angel'' as well as Phil Emmanuel & Mal Eastick, who both featured on the cover of Stevie Wright’s "Guitar Band" along with Southwell and Borich. ''Dark Angel'' was successful for Southwell which resulted in a 76 show tour with Kennedy and Brus. Since the release of ''Dark Angel'', Southwell has been in constant demand at music venues and festivals. He has had five more releases since ''Dark Angel'', ''James Southwell & the Fallen Angels'', ''Pieces of James'', ''James Southwell Band live at the Sydney Blues & Roots festival DVD'', the "Walkin' Now" single, and his 2017 release, "Where The Wind Blows - The Dockside Sessions.

Influences

, Phil Manning,

Lobby Loyde Lobby Loyde (born John Baslington Lyde, 18 May 1941 – 21 April 2007), also known as John Barrie Lyde or Barry Lyde, was an Australian rock music guitarist, songwriter and producer. He was a member of two 1960s groups: Purple Hearts, which had ...

George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician and singer-songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian c ...

, Geoff Achison,

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...

, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Mal Eastick,

Johnny Lang Johnny Lang was an American cattle driver who discovered Lost Horse Mine in Joshua Tree National Park. He claimed that he had moved to the area because his brother had been gunned down in New Mexico with six other cowboys. In 1890, in the process ...

Festival appearances

* Australian Blues Festival 2008 * Canberra Festival 2009 * Summernats 21 2008 * Yass Heritage Festival 2009 * Yass Festival 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, * Australian Music Extravaganza 2010 * Blues On Broadbeach 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, * Blues Music Day Wollongong Blues Club 2015 * Great Southern Blues & Rockabilly Festival 2009, 2015 * Redlands-Bayside Blues Festival October 2014. * Blues at the Briars January 2015. * Agnes Water Blues & Rock Festival Feb 2015. * Airlie Beach Music Festival November 2015. * Thredbo Blues Festival 2008, 2009, 2010, 2016, 2017 * Bay of Islands Jazz & Blues Festival New Zealand 2008, 2015, 2016, 2019 * Sydney Blues & Roots Festival 2009, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2016 * Wangaratta Jazz & Blues Festival 2015, 2016 * Untapped Festival 2018, 2019 * Red, White, Amber & Blues Festival 2019 * Goulburn Blues Festival 2022

Side projects

Southwell has been touring with Australian rock icon

Angry Anderson Gary Stephen "Angry" Anderson (born 5 August 1947) is an Australian rock singer, songwriter, television personality and actor. He has been the lead vocalist with the hard rock band Rose Tattoo since 1976. As a solo artist, he is best known f ...

(Ex

Rose Tattoo Rose Tattoo are an Australian rock and roll band, now led by Angry Anderson, which formed in Sydney in 1976. Their sound is hard rock mixed with blues rock influences, with songs including "Bad Boy for Love", "Rock 'n' Roll Outlaw", "Nice ...

) for the past 10 years as "Angry Anderson with the James Southwell Band". He has a popular festival band, "Manning (Phil Manning) Wilson (Chris Wilson) Southwell (James Southwell) Band" He has also toured with Australian idol winner

Kate DeAraugo Katherine Jenna DeAraugo (born 5 November 1985) is an Australian singer-songwriter who in 2005 was the third winner of '' Australian Idol''. After ''Idol'', DeAraugo signed to Sony BMG and released her debut single, "Maybe Tonight", in November ...

. He has played with Kevin Borich, Phil Manning, Chris Wilson, Lachlan Doley, and a host of well known Australian musicians. His latest project teams him up with the New Orleans bass player Charlie Wooton, as the "James Southwell Band featuring Charlie Wooton"

Latest recording

Southwell traveled to Maurice Louisiana in June 2016 to record a new original album at the famed Dockside Studio. Charlie Wooton produced and plays bass on this recording, with Doug Belote on drums, Michael Lemmler on keys,

Jason Ricci Jason Ricci (born February 3, 1974) is an American harmonica player and singer. In addition to his solo albums, Ricci has appeared as a guest harmonica player on albums with Johnny Winter, Terence Blanchard, Nick Curran, Ana Popovic, Walter Tr ...

on harmonica/vocals, Rafael Pereira on percussion,

Jamison Ross Jamison Ross is an American jazz drummer and vocalist. He is the winner of the 2012 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Drums Competition. Ross released his debut album ''Jamison'' on Concord Jazz on June 23, 2015. His sophomore album, ''All ...

on backing vocals. Paul Wooton on backing vocals, Andrew Gregory on clapping, Dave Farrell engineer. This album is set to be released in late 2016.

Discography

* 2006 Dark Angel * 2009 James Southwell & the Fallen Angels * 2013 Pieces of James * 2015 Walkin' Now (Single) * 2015 James Southwell Band "Live" at the 2014 Sydney Blues & Roots Festival DVD * 2016 James Southwell Band "Live" at the 2016 Thredbo Blues Festival DVD * 2016 James Southwell Band "Live" at the 2016 Thredbo Blues Festival CD * 2017 Where The Wind Blows, The Dockside Sessions

Music videos

* James Southwell, "Guitar Band" 2006 * James Southwell & Barry Harvey, "Beast of Burden" 2013 * James Southwell Band, "Wild Thing" 2014 * James Southwell Band, "I can Tell" 2014 * James Southwell, "Walkin' Now" 2015 * James Southwell Band featuring Charlie Wooton 2015

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Southwell, James 1988 births Living people Australian guitarists Australian male singer-songwriters Australian singer-songwriters 21st-century Australian singers 21st-century guitarists 21st-century Australian male singers Australian male guitarists