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James Anthony

Published September 1, 1997 in Features
James Anthony

James Anthony

James Anthony

The Toronto Blues Society’s Acoustic Blues: A Kinder, Gentler Blues Concert, brings the talent of James Anthony (pictured at right) to Toronto for an afternoon of acoustic performances, along with Gayle Ackroyd and Dennis Gomo. The event will be held at Harbourfront Centre (Water’s Edge Cafe) on Sept. 28th, beginning at 2 pm.


Guitar slinger/song man James Anthony (born James Anthony Pecchia) left the Toronto music scene in 1980 for a gig that was worth relocating for at the time – a chance to be a member of the ever-employed Lulu’s House Band (Kitchener, Ont.). It was an opportunity that gave Pecchia the chance to back over one hundred and fifty high-profile touring artists. “In 1980-81, I left Mondo Combo. I started that band with Al Lerman back in 76-77, along with John Dickie and all those guys. We really weren’t getting anywhere, though it was a fabulous band at the time. The joke used to be, ‘It was the best band that never was.’ We were playing blues and r’n’b, and reggae and roots music when all that disco stuff was goin’ on, and if you weren’t into disco at the time… you couldn’t get arrested.”

During Pecchia’s 2-and-a-half-year stint at Lulu’s, he played guitar and sang lead alongside vocalist Katalin Kiss and reminisces about some of his favourite experiences. “I got to play with Sam Moore of Sam and Dave, Gary U.S. Bonds, Peter Noone, and many more. But the week before the club was closed down (temporarily), I was supposed to play with Billy Preston and Little Richard, but then it didn’t happen. I flipped over that.”

During his youth, 42 year-old Pecchia spent his summers in the U.S., shuttling between Pennsylvania and Lewiston N.Y., where he was exposed to the music of artists like Jimmy Reed on the Buffalo stations, mixed with the old blues and bluegrass he heard on the Pittsburgh stations, and he could pick up the southern stations, too. “I lived with my little radio. I had it on all the time.”

Pecchia has always surrounded himself with vintage gear of all descriptions. Boyhood purchases of old beat up Fender Stratocasters and various other pieces of vintage gear, and he eventually fuelled this interest by operating a music store in Cambridge for a few years, later expanding further by establishing a recording studio called Grapevine, also in Cambridge. “In the pawn shops around 1972, I was able to buy an old, beat-up Stratocaster because it was only two hundred bucks. A brand new Les Paul at the time was about six hundred. At one time, people didn’t even want that stuff. You could give them away. Buying guitars for me was just kind of like a habit. Every six months or so, I’d buy another instrument ’cause I like having them around.”

Pecchia also produced a music show on cable called Midnight Hour, a project he remained with for four years. It featured mostly acoustic music and presented a wide variety of guests. He won the 1996 Producer of the Year Award for cable TV music programming. Pecchia stopped producing the show when he received a letter from SOCAN that explained the unfair practices of the cable network in not paying royalties, and asking James, as a member of the organization, to stop enabling the situation, and he felt he had no choice but to discontinue production.

At press time, James and his band are playing a one-nighter at the Azores Music Festival where audiences will recognize his song “You Don’t Talk To Me” after its receiving rotation in Portugal – the result of a chain of events originating with CHIN Radio passing the song on to the Canadian Portuguese radio station, who in turn sent it to Portugal, and airplay spread from there. Joining him at the Azores fest are fellow band members Dennis Napper (bass), Bill Ivany (drums) and Chris Dahmer (B3).

Pecchia also does commercial session work, and is currently the featured guitarist on a Levi’s “Bad To The Bone” television spot. His recording production credits include singer and blues guitar diva Kris St. Louis’ Boss of Love CD, guitarist Larry Goodhand, and others. The latest co-effort is a Gospel CD entitled 7 Days – Songs of Faith, recorded by Kris. St. Louis and James Anthony, with backup vocals by Godsend (a Gospel group headed by St. Louis). St. Louis has worked with Pecchia in various projects for years, and says, “James plays with more feel than anyone I’ve ever played with…he’s a joy to work with…we feed off each other…and come out with stuff we didn’t even talk about… just happened spiritually! He brings out the best in me…and I think I sorta bring out a part of himself too. He’s got more toys..than Doans has pills”, St. Louis snickers. “Without toys..well he sounds just as wonderful as if he didn’t have them. Tone and feel – 2 words that he knows inside out.”

To order James Anthony’s new CD, Enough Is Enough, call 519-624-4363, and don’t miss him in the Kinder, Gentler Blues Concert TBS event at Harbourfront Centre on Sept. 28.

– Lily Sazz

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The Toronto Blues Society acknowledges the annual support of the Ontario Arts Council, the City of Toronto through the Toronto Arts Council and the Department of Canadian Heritage, and project support from FACTOR< and the Government of Canada through the Department of Canadian Heritage (Canada Music Fund) and of Canada’s Private Broadcasters, The Canada Council for the Arts, the SOCAN Foundation, SOCAN, the Ontario Media Development Corporation, and the Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport.