• James Hunter & Jesse Dee
• 8:00pm

ABOUT JAMES HUNTER

Hunter is one of the best (of one of the few) of the British blue-eyed soul singers to emerge in the late 20th century. Hunter began his roots music career in the 1980s under the name Howlin' Wilf. His solo recordings feature rhythm & blues in the style of the 1950s, pitched between R&B, early rock & roll, and early soul. His 1994 solo debut, "Believe What I Say", had guest appearances by Doris Troy and Van Morrison, and Hunter appeared on a couple of Morrison's mid-'90s albums, as well as performing as part of Morrison's Rhythm & Blues Revue. Hunter initially hooked up with "Van Morrison" after Morrison, tipped off by an enthusiastic Hunter fan at a newsstand in London, went to hear Hunter perform at a gig in Wales. Hunter subsequently toured extensively with Morrison, singing alongside such luminaries as "John Lee Hooker, Junior Wells, Jimmy Witherspoon" and "Georgie Fame". He is featured on Morrison’s live album "A Night in San Francisco" and the studio recording "Days Like This".

Hunter, also a skilled guitarist, wrote most of the material on his 2001 release, "Kick It Around". Boz Boorer, Morrissey’s lead guitarist and Musical Director, stepped in to produce Hunter’s sophomore solo album, on the German label Ruf Records. Go Records/Rounder picked him up a few years later, and he released his third full-length album, "People Gonna Talk", in 2006. The album went on to be nominated for a 2006 Grammy Award.

Born in Colchester, England, Hunter was drawn to the sounds of R&B at an early age, perhaps for lack of options. “When I was nine, my parents moved into this caravan in Thorrington, outside Colchester. It was this poxy little caravan, old and knackered, with me and my brother stuck in one half of it and Mum and Dad sleeping in the living room. We had a radio and there wasn’t much interesting on that, and my grandmother gave us an old gramophone and a heap of 78s – all 50’s stuff. I just acquired the taste for stuff around that age – we had Jackie Wilson’s Reet Petite and lots of other Rock ’n Roll in its earliest form. It was a great treat for us to be allowed to listen every now and then, because there wasn’t a lot of room in that place. It was in the middle of an onion field.”

James Hunter has toured extensively on the club and festival circuits in London and across Europe. His natural ability as singer and guitarist brings added excitement to his music, evidenced by the frenzy he can stir up among hardened gig-goers and young hipsters alike. About the frenzies, Hunter concludes, “It’s simple really—it’s music you can groove to.”

ABOUT JESSE DEE

Jesse Dee’s influences read like a Who’s Who of classic soul music. Otis Redding, Sam Cooke, Etta James, Al Green and many others. But Jesse Dee is not just a student of the classics. He also loves the new wave of rootsy artists –James Hunter, Amos Lee and John Legend, among them.

“Soul music has always hit me harder than any other kind of music,’’ says the Boston-based Jesse, who has learned his lessons well. He puts a convincing new spin on the subject with his debut solo disc, “Bittersweet Batch,’’ which should please anyone with a love of this heartfelt style. Jesse adds a stunning vocal expressiveness and a unique ability to inject and dissect emotions. He delivers it all with a warmth that comes from analog recording and from cutting a lot of the songs live in the studio.

Jesse’s love of soul is honest to the core. When you step into his home studio, for example, you may find him putting on a vinyl copy of “The Best Chess Vocal Groups,’’ including cuts on the seminal Chess Records by the Moonglows, Miracles, and Flamingos. And on the walls are paintings that he has created of faves like Jackie Wilson and James Brown. The paintings are exceptional. Jesse is a graduate of MassArt (Massachusetts College of Art and Design) and almost went into art as a profession over music.

 “I’ve been painting longer than I’ve played music,’’ says Jesse. “I have studied art most of my life and have been doing both for a while, but I made my decision to focus on music.’’

Raised in the Boston suburb of Arlington, Jesse started at MassArt by studying illustration, but switched over to its Studio for Interrelated Media, where he studied performance, production, mixed-media, and composition. During college he was in the ten-piece band Decifunk, which played up and down the east coast and released an original record called “Open Your Eyes’’ on Squeezebox Records in 2001. That was followed by a stint in the group The Dirty Whites (“more like Black Sabbath meets Motown,’’ he says). They put out a five-song, self-released EP in 2006.

Then came his own group under the name Jesse Dee, which includes guitarist Matthew Joy, bassist Jim Larkin, and drummer Matt “Pie’’ Beaulieu. They’re all on the new album, as are such top-notch guests as guitarist Kevin Barry (Paula Cole, Dennis Brennan), and the soulful duo of Dwight & Nicole, not to mention an all-star horn section with Scott and John Aruda, and Paul Ahlstrand, who has played with Susan Tedeschi.

Jesse, who has opened for Al Green, is also a cofounder of Sea Monsters, a popular club band he started with singer Christian McNeill. It’s a true musician’s band and has featured guest appearances from other Boston roots acts such as Tim Gearan, Miss Tess, and Dennis Brennan. Jesse still paints and freelances as a graphic designer. The painting sparks his music.
 
“I sing when I paint,’’ he says. “I’ve composed songs while I paint a number of times.’’ But exploring and updating soul music is his true passion. “I’m just trying to get better – to write better songs, get better at performing them, and enjoy myself in the process,’’ he says.