Early James is a folk and blues musician based in Birmingham, Alabama. Back in November, he was the last session we filmed at the TakeRoot festival in Groningen. And it speaks to his credit that he still managed to surprise us with two unique covers of Bob Dylan’s Don’t Think Twice It’s All Right and Hank Williams’ Hey, Good Lookin’, and his own I Could Just Die Right Now – from his brand-new Dan Auerbach produced album Medium Raw.
Early James recorded his album almost as raw as this The Influences session
Early James made his mark with his first two Easy Eye Sound albums, Singing For My Supper (2020) and Strange Time To Be Alive (2022), both recorded at the studio inside the label’s Nashville headquarters. But for his third release, Medium Raw, producer and Easy Eye Sound label head Dan Auerbach wanted something different—an approach that embraces the unvarnished grit of the Alabama-born singer-songwriter and guitarist, letting his music cut straight to the bone. “I wanted to try to find that power of when I first saw him, when it was just him and his guitar,” Auerbach explains.
“I could listen to Hank Williams on repeat and never get tired of it.”
Early James: “I remember getting obsessed with the blues and getting obsessed with old country. My first favorite musician was Hank Williams. There was something about how dark that music was. I could listen to Hank Williams on repeat and never get tired of it. Hank Williams, Jr., lives in my hometown of Troy, Alabama, and he and my dad were hunting buddies. They still run into each other at Julia’s Restaurant in Troy. I listened to a lot of Howlin’ Wolf, and his guitarist Hubert Sumlin — I thought that was Howlin’ Wolf playing the guitar.”
Early James is on tour
Following the release of Medium Raw earlier this January, Early James has live dates in the United States all through February and further into Spring. He will also be back in The Netherlands in June for the Holland International Blues Festival in Grolloo. You can find all his dates on his website.
Photos












Originals
Don’t Think Twice It’s All Right
(Bob Dylan)
Tidal | Apple Music
Hey, Good Lookin’ (Hank Williams)
Tidal | Apple Music
Early James
Credits
Filmed by Matthijs van der Ven & David Lawson Froggatt.
Edited by Matthijs van der Ven.
Audio recorded & mixed by Matthijs van der Ven.
Location
TakeRoot Festival
Groningen, The Netherlands
Thanks
Joey Ruchtie
TakeRoot
Arne Lampe
Eurosonic Noorderslag
V2 Records
There is no better way to discover music than watching great musicians cover the songs they love. The Influences has been producing these videos ever since 2008.
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Keep watching
Thank you for watching and enjoying this session. You’ll probably like some other sessions from The Influences’ archive too, like these earlier ones we filmed at TakeRoot festival.
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