Courtesy of David S. Towers
Shawn James and The Shapeshifters perform live at Fayetteville’s Last Saturday on New Years Eve 2014. The band is known for their “swampy blues” sound that’s raw and high-energy.
There’s a thunderous, primal live sound to Shawn James and The Shapeshifters.
The band’s style is a union of several sounds of the South. When listening, you might pick up on different influences of soul, blues, gospel, metal, bluegrass and folk. The instrumentation consists of dark, jangly slide guitar, twangy banjo, chugging harmonica and hard, soulful vocals amid violin and mandolin. James calls it “swamp blues.” One thing is for sure, it sounds pretty bad ass.
James has released six full length albums, two being solo albums, with one an album of covers with the raw blues flair the band performs with. The band has performed all throughout the country, and has even toured Europe — which the foreign audiences were all about bluesy-folksy American music, James said.
The band will be one of the headliners for the Eureka Springs, Ark., Ozark Mountain Music Fest on Saturday, Jan. 24. The audience can expect a big show, James said.
“There’s a little bit of a wilder feel there just cause Eureka Springs itself seems to have an art and community focus,” James said. “I think it breeds a certain quality of people that are awesome and fun and rowdy. We’re planning on having a six piece band there, which will be a really big sound. It should be really fun.”
James also said he’s excited and honored to be following the Columbia, Mo. rock n’ rollers Hooten Hallers at the festival.
Photo Contributed by Ironside Photography
Fayetteville locals Shawn James and the Shapeshifters brought their gravely, gritty folk-rock to Harvest Fest during their Thursday, Oct. 16 set.
“(Hooten Hallers) are one of our favorite bands,” James said. “We’ve played with them on the road, and they always blow us away. They’ve got a very good, intense blues-rock energy.”
For the festival, the full band will consist of James on vocals and guitar, Baker on mandolin and tenor banjo, Nick Shoulders on banjo and harmonica, Chris Overcash on violin, Chooch Norton on bass, and Zach Coger on drums.
It’s been a long road to where James is with the Shapeshifters now. Growing up and playing in different bands throughout his youth, James made Fayetteville his home base in January 2012 as a solo artist. After self-recording the entirety of his debut solo album, “Shadows,” in his bedroom and releasing it in August of that year, James operated as a one-man band with occasional guests.
Soon enough, James began work on recording the Shapeshifter trilogy, with “The Wolf” as the first release. Inspired by an oil painting of a wolf given to him by his wife, the album tells the tale of a boy raised by wolves. The result is a somber, soulful and cathartic — yet graceful album of melodies comparable in nature to Justin Vernon’s work in Bon Iver.
The story lines for the Shapeshifter albums are inspired by an interest in Native American, Egyptian and Greek mythology, James said. Each album is unique from the other, from the most recent release of the piano-based “Hawk” to the downright gritty “Bear.”
“Personally, I relate the most and I draw the most emotion from songs of sorrow,” James said. “Music that’s joyous is great, it makes you happy. It’s very light and it’s not making you think about stuff. With sorrow, you’ll hear this incredible violin solo or this incredible opera singer… like with ‘The Hawk,’ I focus on that kind of stuff.”
The second release in the trilogy is “The Bear,” which James wrote in a solar powered cabin in the Ozarks for three days in solitude, and two with the band. It was here the thunderous, “swampy blues” sound of the group formed. The album tells the story of a hungered bear searching for an adversary.
Courtesy Photo
Shawn James and The Shapeshifters recently announced their new album, “The Gospel According to Shawn James,” with artwork for the album by Polish artist Karol Bak. James said the new sound of the album will include more rock n’ roll riff elements in it than previous records.
“When we do house shows or different venues —say we’re playing in a bookshop or something that’s more low key, we’ll definitely do something that’s more low key,” James said. “That’s the beauty of it all and why I like doing all these different genres. We can fit a very diverse spectrum of venues and audiences.”
There’s also some new music on the way from James and company, but it’s still in progress and won’t be played live just yet. The full-length album is going to be called “The Gospel According to Shawn James,” and they’re looking to release it in April of this year.
“With this album I feel we’re taking the more groovy, heavier riff driven — almost hardcore and metal — sound and incorporating it with rock n’ roll, bluesy, groovy, and catchier stuff,” James said. “A lot of this album is riff driven. It’s intense. Kinda like The Black Keys, but dirty and raw that’s also got that melodic, old-school rock n’ roll roots feel.”
Even though James isn’t a native Fayettevillian, he said he’s really connected to the local community and loves being a part of the music scene.
“I’ve lived a lot of places, and this is the first town in a long time that’s felt like home, to be honest,” James said. “Cost of living here is incredible, and the music scene here is incredible. There’s a lot of different genres and different venues. There’s a lot of support here. The Fayetteville crowd and Northwest Arkansas in general is a gem of Arkansas, man. A lot of people don’t know it.”
