McKinley James

The first thing you notice about McKinley James is his serious mix of Motown soul andblues-based guitar playing. It doesn’t sound like the type of “blues” you get from traditionalpurveyors of the genre, but instead from a guitarist who understands chordtheory so wellyou could swear you’re hearing a horn section sometimes. While guitar stores reverberatewith licks from ham-fisted modern bluesmen when they don’t know shuffle from shinola,McKinley would walk into that guitar store and summon the spiritsof his own idols, nearlyforgotten pioneers like Otis Rush and Little Milton.