“Well, before we all know it, we’ll be stuck in the ground / And these worms and bugs will be our only crowd / It doesn’t really matter, if you’re rich or lame / These bugs and worms will enjoy, just the same.”
Each and every one of us can curse as much as we want to about how the arrival of a global pandemic in early 2020 negatively impacted our lives, but with the forced downtime many of us had to endure, let’s be honest – there were some positive outcomes too, right? For us live-music junkies, mandates that closed the US border and postponed in-person live music events were definitely a culture shock that took time to come to terms with.
Yet, on the other hand, that time spent in isolation brought with it an opportunity to discover new music through social networks – and when you are surrounded by an amazing team of volunteer music bloggers here at GDW, recommendations for new listening pleasures poured continuously from a well unlikely to dry up any time soon.
As we tweaked and retuned our daily lives during the initial arrival of the pandemic, I recall a message from Team GDW contributor Douglas McLean, asking if I was familiar with a Canadian artist named James Gray. Pretty certain that he was not referring to the late former keyboardist from Blue Rodeo, my response indicated that I was not. Keen to learn about this emerging Muskoka-based artist for myself, Douglas submitted an excellent article focusing on James Gray’s music and career, which we promptly published here on GDW in May 2020.
Just a little over two years later – as we gradually moved beyond the pandemic and back to some sense of ‘life as we once knew it’ – with the lineup announcement for the 2022 Muskoka Music Festival (an annual ‘must’ event for us) came the opportunity to connect with James Gray, who would participate on the festival’s opening day. As one of the three acts participating in the “On The Road Again” workshop, this Emsdale, ON artist impressed us with both his on-stage persona and his songwriting prowess. Equally impressive was his enthusiasm about the event – we bumped into each other on several occasions around the music stage and town throughout the weekend – and found him never too busy to offer a smile or stop for a chat. It became very clear as to why Douglas was keen to spread the word about James and his music.
My intention here of allocating so much editorial space to discussing James Gray is to articulate just how excited we are about “Think About Me,” his latest single being released today. Written with a fun tongue-in-cheek nature, we had the pleasure to hear this tune twice during the Muskoka Music Festival, and marveled at how easily other artists gravitated to adding their own unprompted harmonies and instrumentation as James performed – it was not only us fans that warmed easily to his laid-back demeanor and personality, but his stage companions and peers too.
Team GDW are delighted to premiere the video release to accompany this truly heartwarming song here today. We urge you to enjoy the visual delights on offer, courtesy of videographer/director Jesse McCracken – to be lured in by the back roads and scenic views from Cottage Country, and the innocence and charm that James seeks to project. “I often sit and wonder, what is the point / When you’d rather drive an Audi than feed a starving little boy / I guess first world insecurity creates third world poverty / And I try not to let my insecurities bother me / And all the while, better stop to think / What would my father think? / Would he think about me? / Think about me now / Would he think about me? / Think about me now.”
“Think About Me” appears on James Gray’s forthcoming album, “New Friends That Talk Like Old Friends,” scheduled for release on December 3rd.
Photo Credit: Artist Website
The British guy that crossed the ocean and crash landed in central Pennsylvania (to quote Greg Keelor, “And I wonder what am I doing here?”). As the youngest of four siblings, exposure to music from a very early age nurtured my passion and appreciation for many musical genres. Continuing to discover some amazingly diverse and talented musicians based in Canada, I gravitate to live music experiences and remain devoted to spreading the word about such a vibrant music scene.
