James Talley

Although he's not exactly a household name among casual folk and blues fans, Nashville-based guitarist, singer and songwriter James Talley is a towering talent among those in the know in these worlds of music. Through the years, Talley's songs have been recorded by the likes of Alan Jackson, Johnny Cash, Gene Clark, Johnny Paycheck, and even Moby. Talley was born in Oklahoma, but his family moved to Richland, Washington when he was young. There, his father worked as a chemical operator at the Hanford plutonium factory. Realizing the hazards his father's employment presented, the family packed up and left for Albuquerque, New Mexico. Shortly after, his father passed from cancer that was no doubt acquired at the plutonium factory, which Talley later wrote a song about. After he was graduated from the University of New Mexico with a degree in fine arts, Talley was encouraged by Pete Seeger to write songs that drew from the rich southwest culture in which he was raised. His early songs were released later as an album, "The Road to Torreon," released in 1992 on the Bear Family Records label. Talley moved from New Mexico to Nashville, Tenn. in 1968 in hopes of securing a publishing deal or to record his songs himself, however, Nashville wasn't ready for this singer who played a refreshingly weird amalgamation of blues and country music. The late John Hammond, Sr. at Columbia Records in New York championed Talley's talents as a songwriter and singer in the early 1970's. Hammond also assisted in the careers of Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Bruce Springsteen and Aretha Franklin, among many others. Unable to get him a record deal at Columbia Records, he referred Talley to his friend Jerry Wexler, then at Atlantic Records. Wexler and others at Atlantic were involved in starting...