By TE Mattox
I find it hard to believe it’s been three years since we lost James Harman. That’s probably because his music is still on such a high rotation across all my playlists. So imagine my delight when friend, Nathan James walked over and handed me a brand new James Harman CD from Electro-Fi Records. The disc entitled, ‘Didn’t We Have Some Fun Sometime’ features twelve fresh tracks all written by the man himself; James Harman. The recordings were captured online during pandemic ‘live streams’ or in studio recording sessions at Nathan’s Sacred Cat Studios in Oceanside then produced and mastered in his new digs in Mountain Center.
I spoke to Nathan about the recordings featuring his late friend and mentor. “I wanted to show the world the stuff we were working on up until James died.” Nathan said. “These are basically his last recordings. Although he was very sick the last several months of his life, he was driven to put out a new album of original material which consists of a lot of this album – ‘Didn’t We Have Some Fun Sometime.’ We weren’t able to get it finished because his health was declining so quickly. Some of his last messages to me were about ideas for the next release. Our last sessions together were ‘live stream’ recordings during the pandemic. He brought over a large notebook of his lyrics printed out, and he’d pick random songs and would sing them for the first time with us for the recordings. He was extremely prolific and this was less than a year before he passed.”
Several things jump right out at you from this recording; Harman’s masterful skills at songwriting, instrumentation and then of course like he always did, surrounding himself with incredibly talented musicians. This album reflects all of that. Harman has his long-time guitarist, Nathan James and percussionist, Mike Tempo appearing on most tracks. The rhythm section of bassist, Troy Sandow and drummer, Marty Dotson are some of Southern California’s best. Legendary keyboardists’ Carl Sonny Leyland and the late Gene Taylor as well as drummer, Hal Smith also contributed to this recording.
From the opening track ‘Pick Up the Slack’ and throughout the record, you have to appreciate Harman’s harmonica work. He’ll accentuate or supplement a specific groove, and then in the very next bar use that same harp like it’s a second voice, just to emphasize his point. Listen for it on ‘Who’s Got the Geetus,’ and ‘That Old Clock’ he just kills.
Nathan James worked and toured with Harman for years, so I wanted to know how special this project became for him? “It was very special and personal for me to work on this project and I probably spent more time on it than any other album I’ve produced. I was very fortunate to have Andrew Galloway and Electro-Fi records giving me full creative control over this. Andrew understood my vision and wanted the album to do James justice.”
How much material did you comb through to come up with these 12 tracks? “I went through quite a bit, but first I went through James’ notes of his personal selections of tunes he wanted to use. He had several ideas of groups of songs to use and I could kind of tell he wasn’t as focused as he might’ve been if his health had permitted, because he had enough songs picked for two full-length albums. Most of the album is taken from the three ‘livestream’ recordings we did, but there were several tunes including the title track that were from sessions 10 years ago. I have most of his recorded work on a hard drive. There is a lot of unreleased material, and some may still be on analog tape somewhere, which I don’t have.”
Talk a little more about the ‘livestream’ process and performing ‘live on YouTube’ during the pandemic? “More than half of the album was taken from live streams.” Nathan says, “Live on Facebook and YouTube performances. The ability to livestream during the pandemic really got me through the pandemic and helped me stay creative. It was a big challenge to set up the cameras and sync it with the video and then get it to broadcast over the internet in real time. I was going live on my own almost every day at random times. One great memory was always seeing James comment on my solo livestreams. He was always saying something encouraging or funny in real time while I was playing. I knew he was itching to play and sing as well, and he would even crash our livestreams sometimes, walking in with beer for the band…such great memories.”
Harman had an incredible gift of story-telling through imagery and his turn of phrase; lines like ‘Opportunities knock, but I was out!’ It became visual poetry set to music. Did improvisation or the spontaneity of his art form ever surprise you or the rest of the band? “That was James’ biggest gift.” Nathan says. “He’d always surprise us… Every. Time. There were lots of stories he would tell repeatedly as well. Some stories from his youth I had thought were tall tales, but when I met some of his old band mates in Panama City, Florida where he first started performing music, they all confirmed those stories with all the same details as James had told!”
You have any favorite memories when you listened back to some of these compositions? Memorable elements that continue to inspire you or take you back in time? “I have many memories of the songs I was fortunate to record with him. A lot of him explaining the meanings of the lyrics and origination of the stories he was singing about. Some are X- rated and only for band members to hear. James set the bar really high in terms of quality and taste with the music he created. Everything was conversational and quirky, but always coming off as natural sounding and not forced. He is definitely my biggest influence for songwriting. He was a master with his way of words, and he knew how to make them flow within the song. He was so intelligent, and his knowledge of the English language was such a gift, he knew how to break the rules while throwing in his signature Southern slang along the way.”
I highly recommend you pick up a copy of this CD. It is truly memorable and some of the best of James Harman. A special ‘Thank You’ goes out to Nathan James for his years of dedication in making this recording available for life-long Harman fans. Just the best parting gift, ever. Like the man said, ‘when it’s all said and done, didn’t we have some fun sometime?’
