Homespun DVD close out

Current inventory includes six copies of Blues/Roots Guitar and four sets of Learn to Play Blues Mandolin 1 and 2.
Homespun has discontinued the manufacture of DVDs and will be offering material in digital format only. These copies are the last to be seen on this site.

Blues/Roots Guitar  $30

Roots/Blues Guitar is a comprehensive 80 minute session that includes demonstrations of five complete song arrangements from the SJ repertoire plus tips on chord building, fingerstyle technique and slide guitar.
Learn To Play Blues Mandolin is a rollicking trip through standard and classic song arrangements plus tips on technique and chord theory from basics on up. Featured on the song performances are guitar accompaniment by John Sebastian (part 1) and Del Rey (part 2).

The “Two Track Mind” guitars and my first mandolin

Housecleaning recently turned up some boxes of my Two Track Mind album (CDs and cassettes… still in the shrink wrap) that I got as part of a legal settlement with Antone’s Records, the Austin label that picked up that title after my indie cassette release in 1989 had gotten some reviews and airplay and consequently moved a few units.  It was that album which got me out of Texas and on the road, and I still have the guitars I used on those sessions along with my first mandolin; my only functional acoustic instruments at the time.  Over 30 years later they’re still in good playing order, and each has a bit of a story.
The Gibson logo and appointments on the L-00 along with the barely legible factory order number (779) stamped inside date the guitar ca. 1934.  San Antonio bassist and guitar tech Scott Harrison passed it on to me as a “project”; a mess of open seams, active cracks, loose braces and after-factory screw holes where a tailpiece had quick-fixed a detached bridge.  There was still a ‘30s L-00 in there however, and some workbench time proved it to be a very good one!  Retired from regular road work in the early ‘90s when Collings set me up with the original black-and-pearloid C-10, the Gibson still gets regular use; requested specifically as a loaner by visiting friends like Elijah Wald and Suzy Thompson (who, as we’ve agreed, can have it when I’m dead).
National Triolian #1707P (1930) was a birthday gift from master musician and keeper of the jarocho flame Francisco Gonzalez who got it for $100 as an unclaimed repair from a guitar shop in Los Angeles.  The considerable play wear on the face and cover plate is mostly my doing, a long legacy of Texas bar gigs, (The black stenciled palm trees over green polychrome on the back are still nearly pristine.)  The unmistakeable voice of this instrument really came across on the “Two Track” sessions (and subsequently on my “Short Blue Stories” project where engineer/guitarist Rich Brotherton singled it out for certain tracks).  It just sounds… old!
Strad-o-lin mandolins are enigmatic.  Not even vintage pundits can date them with surety, saying instead that they’re “from the ‘40s”.  Who made them?  Kay… probably.  This one had just come out of pawn for $49.95 at Major Bill’s Liberty Loan in Johnson City, Tennessee the day I delivered a Gibson ES-335 on which I’d done $50 worth of fret work and set-up.  (These are 1973 prices.)  Bill was happy.  So was I, kind of.  What I’d really wanted was a Gibson, and what I got was a plywood and stencil thing possibly made by Kay in, like, the ’40’s.  The nature of the case was complicated by the fact that it took years to find a Gibson I could afford that played and sounded better than the Strad-o-lin!  It’s still working fine and, when a recent boating and fishing video episode for FaceBook called for an on board mandolin, the choice of instrument was obvious.

As Seattle prepared to relax some virus quarantine regulations (and the day before street demonstrations turned to rioting and curfew), Del Rey wondered if we could maintain social distance in my inflatable boat for a paddle on Lake Washington.  Sage Lee, who edits and manages material for my FB/IG/YouTube postings, suggested making music video while afloat.I figured that if we could manage all that, I’d rig up and try for a perch or two. We succeeded in everything except catching the perch. “Juanita Stomp” played on my old Strad-O-Lin  has the right lyrics.

Steve was traveling hard in the 1990s and pictured below are his three trusty companions. All four of them made it through the thousands of miles and gigs from Seguin to Sao Paulo. He played live shows and recorded his first album for Antone’s , “Two-Track Mind”, with these three,

Two-Track Mind (1993 Antone’s)

Two-Track Mind is back! Young Steve, still in his original cellophane. This box of cut-outs recently surfaced, and they’re $10 each until they’re gone.

Blues and Folk Songs Volume 1

It’s here!

Blues and Folk Songs Volume 1 (2018 Hobemian 0023) $16

Gorgeous guitar and mandolin playing, soulful singing and timeless song writing make this album a classic. Steve James at his best, recorded over two days in autumn 2018.

At this writing, the new book, Roots and Blues Fingerstyle Guitar (Explorations) is in the final stages of preparation for release in 2018 by Acoustic Guitar/Stringletter.  Also In the works is a new album of blues and folk songs.  Check out Steve’s Guitar Store at this site for vintage offerings from the SJ workshop, and the National Guitars page for brand new instruments at great dealer discounted prices.

Having a good time at the Cabot Theater in Beverly, Massachusetts.  I was part of a concert series, and many of the people in the audience had never heard (or even heard of) me before; but the show was well attended and received and I warmed to the task.  When asked about my tech requirements before show, I told ’em one mic on a bare stage.  Very accommodating people, as you can see.

Steve James at the Beverley Theater in Cabot MA Photo Thom Adorney