who’s on your short list?

As the days before Christmas continue to decline, your list of people to buy gifts for gets shorter… and more difficult! What’s left are the people who have everything or the people you just don’t know all that well. Instead of worrying, why not give them some holiday music and a donation to the American Red Cross in their honor? Each copy of “Season of Giving” comes with a note about the donation, it is fully gift-wrapped, and it is shipped for free! Ten dollars will cross them off your list and let you sit back and enjoy the season…

[and you can listen to clips here]

On the radio

With an hour’s notice, Chris Hubble and I drove down to Clear Channel’s 760 AM studio and were interviewed by Shannon and Drew on their Out Loud show. We talked about Soulforce, our trip to Focus on the Family, and they even played some songs from my upcoming Christmas album, which were all recorded over the past week. I don’t have a recording of this interview to post, but Shannon mentioned that we were welcome to join them again down the road.

Interview on TimCorrimal.com

After hearing about the trip to Focus on the Family, Tim Corrimal invited me to an interview on his podcast at TimCorrimal.com. This interview covers a lot of ground, from why we went there to what we saw and how they reacted. It’s also Tim’s 50th episode, congrats Tim! If you have feedback on our trip, feel free to e-mail me your comments

Reaching out to Focus on the Family

Rise Above is a song with an important message: that we should reach out and try to understand those who oppose us. I felt this message was important enough to have a video produced, and I wanted to have multiple versions of the song in order to reach more people. Beyond the music, though, I wanted to take this message and put it into action… so I teamed up with an organization called Soulforce and arranged a trip to Focus on the Family.

There were ten of us who took the trip this weekend. Some didn’t come because they were too nervous, and others didn’t come because they were too angry. Instead of showing up to argue, though, our goal in visiting their campus was to let them know who we are and to try to better understand them.

What happened was something none of us expected: we were able to relate to them and we could see the things we have in common. We had honest conversations and that gave me a sense of hope. Overall, there are still issues we don’t agree with, but I realized that their strong statements were due to the fact that they don’t know us. This situation has been caused by a lack of effort – on both sides – to get to know one another.

After our tour, each of us presented a yellow rose to symbolize our interest in building a relationship with them. Two of us provided letters, and I gave them a copy of the Rise Above music video. I’m hoping that they will choose to continue the conversation.

If you’d like to support my efforts and the efforts of Soulforce, please purchase a copy of the new release: 10% of each CD sold will go to Soulforce. You can also find out more by going to www.soulforce.org/riseabove

A Journey to Begin

In case you missed the October issue of Metromode Magazine here in Colorado, there was a great article by Howard Semones called “A Journey to Begin” that covers just about everything in my journey to becoming an artist: where the songs come from, getting the music out there without a big record label, and expanding beyond the studio. It is now posted online and you can read it here.

I must be dangerous [part 2]

It’s official: I am a threat to society, I’ve been blacklisted!

Got to the airport at 4:30 this morning, they assigned me a seat right away [how nice] and then gave me my boarding pass. When I was about to get in line for security, the lady took a bright yellow highlighter and made huge circles all over my boarding pass around this odd 4-letter code. I asked her what that meant and she said, “it means we need to search you twice”. Oh fun.

Next thing you know, I’m hearing the TSA agent proudly announcing “Hey James, it’s time for the penalty box!” Time for annother run through the metal detector, another pat-down, and another explosives search on every possible item in my possession.

Any idea how I became America’s most-wanted? Are the lyrics from Rise Above or I Believe triggering terror alerts?

I must be dangerous…

I’ve been trying for two days now to fly home to Denver from Los Angeles, and a glitch in the system just pulled me off the last flight home.  That flight had 40 seats available, and everyone was boarding while the attendant was printing out my boarding pass.  Even though I had gone through security seven hours earlier, they decided that I needed to leave the terminal, do a full pat-down and explosives check, and then the regular security check again before I could board.  Needless to say, my one flight home with so many empty seats left without me.

So what does this mean?  Is L.A. some place I’m supposed to be?  Or am I on some sort of terrorist list? I must be dangerous or something…

Ever had similar experiences?  Let me know!

a different breed

I spent this weekend in L.A. for Tim Sweeney’s Music Strategies conference: a semi-annual indie artist event that I’ve been attending for the past few years. Each session brings new faces and new ideas, and each time I can bring more of my own experiences to the table. There are artists of all types and genres – visual artists, book authors, stand-up comics, and music artists from hip-hop to jazz to death metal. What I like about this conference is that it’s not about how you sound or what kind of art you make. Instead, it’s about being more effective as an artist.

Even though I have a lot in common with these people – we’re all on a path of creating something after all – I also realized how different I am from them. I’m not rushing the stage with an electric guitar or beatboxing until 4 am after the bar has closed. I’d rather connect with each person individually and hear their story first. Maybe that’s the difference between an introverted artist versus an extroverted one – the desire to take it all in as the first part of the creative process.

So what kind of artist are you? E-mail me your thoughts…

Interview on Go Rainbow Radio Podcast

This week’s Go Rainbow Radio podcast has a short phone interview recorded this weekend that covers the new Rise Above Remix enhanced CD, giving back to the community, and the documentary “800 CDs” that reveals the challenges and creative solutions of being an independent artist. Listen to the podcast on iTunes or visit GoRainbowRadio.com. Also, you can pick up a copy of “800 CDs” and the new remix from the shopping page!

Remixed and Enhanced!

Today marks a release that jumps into some exciting new territory: an enhanced multimedia CD, Rise Above [the remixes]. With nine mixes by DJs from around the world, a club version of the music video, and special features for the PC, this release tells the story of acceptance with unmatched energy and feeling.

A special website has been created for Rise Above [the remixes] and it is immediately available for purchase on JamesRoyMusic.com and Amazon.com. I’ve also dropped the price of the original DVD+CD set and bundled it with this release for a complete set.

Help support independent artists by getting your copy today!