Peter James

"A Man and his Guitar"  

Some have there horse...some have there dog.

I have my guitar as my best friend. 

I learned to play guitar in my early teens on the back of my brumby welsh mountain pony "FRISKY". While riding with no saddle or bridle I would check the boundary fences and graze him outside the fence line on fresh grass after school. Frisky would prick his ear's back if I played some bad notes and give a little snort. He was my first audience and we were best friends. I had a pretty rough old guitar and practised till my fingers bleed. My father was dead against me playing and singing as he thought it was for sissy's and wanted me to join the army and be a real man. Well I failed that attempt twice being ruled out as colour blind. My Mum and Dad split up soon after that and I was training as a Registered Nurse by then and I never saw him again, so to this day he still doesn't know that I play guitar and sing professionally. My very first song book was "The Australian Hillbilly" by Buddy Williams. My favourite song was "Way Out Where The White Face Cattle Roam". Country Music has come a long way in the last 10 yrs and has entered the mainstream of popularity with young and old. I have performed as an entertainer for 20 years in the Central Coast and Hunter valley region of NSW Australia. For the first 10 years was heavily into Radio Rock Hits with my first band called "Road House Blues Band" but as I matured I rediscovered my childhood love of country music from watching the Reg Lindsay Show on black and white television and listening to mum's favourite oldies from Buddy Williams, Slim Whitman and Hank Williams. I spent 5 years learning these old songs and was a long time member of the Central Coast Country Music Association. During this time I formed a band called "Country Connections" and we performed regularly in clubs and hotels. I stopped performing for 5 years to manage and operate an auto accessories company that required my total energy. I returned to performing after being inspired by Lee Kernaghan winner of the Golden Guitar Awards at Tamworth. I set about learning every song on his first 2 CD's and along the way discovered Garth Brooks and Alan Jackson. These three legends form the heart of my music today. It's a great mix of Country, Rock and Blues that you will never tire of and has instant appeal to all ages. It has become known as "New Country" and is setting new standards for young musicians that enter the industry. I now live on the South Coast of NSW and work as a Registered Nurse and enjoying the beautiful climate of Kiama. I perform in the south coast area as a solo artist and currently working on my new release CD album that will be titled "A Man and His Guitar". I will record some of the old songs of Slim Dusty, Hank Williams, Buddy Williams and Slim Whitman in there original style.. There will be no fancy band backing; just me and my guitar with one take recording like the old days of 78 records. Many of the songs are no longer available and the originals are impossible to buy. I hope to bring these songs back to life in their original style in memory of the great founders of Country Music.

Jessie James and the Outlaws

(That's me on the right as "Jesse James" - stage name)

 The Outlaws is a posse of muso's entrenched in the rich vibes of American and Australian country music; folksie fellers born with a geetar in one hand and a love for entertaining anybody and everybody from a private wedding party to a national wake and all in between.

  Heading the line-up is vocalist-cum-rhythm guitarist, Pete James. Pete was singing almost before he could speak and cut his music teeth on a 15 year stint of entertaining in pubs and clubs mostly around the Central Coast of New South Wales. He has a soft melodic voice and a penchant for ballads which belies a hidden talent for the kind of hard rock he used to play with Road House Blues, a band specialising in 6Os/70s pop rock. He also has a unique gift for literally stepping out of the band and down into the audience - a cordless trick made possible by FM wizardry tucked into his gunbelt. Pete knows some 300 songs by heart and has been called the "human juke box."

  Keeping the boys on the beat is stickman, Rod Mason. As a drummer, Rod reaches through a successful business career and looks to his music for an offbeat serious, very serious, hobby. Something of a purist, Rod scorns electronic drum mimicry like true artists of the brush scorn a camera. "Perfection is the uniquness of human interpretation for which there can be no duplicate," he says.

  Shane Cheetham is back to basics. An ex-rock guitarist, Shane has thumped the big four strings of his bass around the club circuits for four years having been converted to country style with evangelical passion. He's played Steel City Country Music Club; with Slim Newton, Lionel Rose, James Bundell and the Desperados and is familiar "face and fingers" at Tamworth.

For those who prefer Madam Butterfly in the Opera House or Handel on head 'phones, The Outlaws wouldn't be a consideration. But for anybody who likes to revel in the heartfelt rhythms and vibrant tones of country music, The Outlaws are the top guns.

Reproduced From: The South Lakes Courier

The "Country Music Round Up" Festival at Summerland Point Tennis Club 2003 was amazing with 25 artists from the Central Coast, Hunter Valley and North Sydney arrived by the car loads with family and friends. Organised by Peter James for all the Artists who couldn't make it to Tammworth.

The Support Band by members of The Central Coast Country Music Association.  

Sponsored by 94.9 FM

 Miniture wooden model of the "Golden Guitar" made by Rick Woodridge

This was a concept Country Rock band I organised but despite my best efforts never got off the ground. Three of us went on to record an album in 2001. These are the musicians on my first Studio album "The Beat Of Peter James" Wayne Pendergast, Dave Pavey, Peter James...and Michelle ? She was replaced by Ian Casey from Reel Feel Recordings at Umina on the Central Coast of NSW.

Somethings were just not mean't to happen. Ever since then I have gone Solo and it has been a long hard road before I could get any working Gigs. These days venues can rarely afford a band and when they do the band has to be well known and have a list of awards all the way to Tamworth before they have any chance of getting listed with booking agents.

Thankyou guys for helping me with my album..."The Beat of Peter James"

Peter James

Wow...

Here is where I finally met my Agent (Loraine from Skyline Entertainment) for the first time. Reminds of Dora Creek Workers Club (Hunter Valley, NSW) where I done my first gig (25 yrs ago). Real fairdinkum friendly people who just appreciate good old fashioned music the way it should be. The raffle has just finished and like always most go home to bed on a Sunday night at 8pm....but those who stayed had all the fun and would not let me go so we just  partied on till closing time.

October 2005