James Talley

James Talley (born November 9, 1944) is an American country, country blues and electric blues singer-songwriter. Talley is an artist whose vision of the American experience, as author David McGee has said, is "startlingly original." As a youth, Talley's family moved from their home in Mehan, Oklahoma, near Stillwater, to Washington state, where his father worked as a chemical operator in the Hanford plutonium factory. After five years in Richland, Washington, and realizing the hazards his father's employment presented, the family relocated to Albuquerque, New Mexico. Talley graduated from the University of New Mexico with a degree in fine arts. Joining country music and the blues, B. B. King, played his first Nashville session with Talley in 1976, as his lead guitar player.

Talley's recording career now spans over thirty years. John Hammond, Sr. at Columbia Records in New York was his first mentor, and championed his writing in the early 1970s. When Hammond could not get Talley signed to Columbia, he sent him to Jerry Wexler, who was starting a new Nashville operation with his Atlantic label at the time. Wexler signed Talley to his first recording contract at Atlantic Records. Atlantic's Nashville operation, however, did not do well at the time and Atlantic closed its Nashville office. Rolling Stone, and other music publications, have declared these albums American classics for their time. The 1976 song "Are They Gonna Make Us Outlaws Again?" was ranked number 60 in the book Heartaches by the Number - Country Music's 500 Greatest Singles.

During the 1980s and 1990s, Talley recorded four albums, which were released in Europe by the German Bear Family Records, American Originals (1985); and Love Songs and The Blues (1989); The Road To Torreón (1992) and James Talley: Live (1994). Grand Coulee Dam W. Lee O'Daniel and the Light Crusty Doughboys

Albums Got No Bread, No Milk, No Money, But We Sure Got a Lot of Love – Original on Capitol Records 1975, (Torreon Productions) – 30th Anniversary Reissue in 2006 on Cimarron Records, Issue No. 1001 Tryin' Like the Devil – Original Capitol Records-(Torreon Productions) – 1976; Cimarron Recordings Issue No. 1002 Blackjack Choir – Original Capitol Records-(Torreon Productions) – 1977; Cimarron Recordings Issue No. 1003 Ain't It Somethin''' – Original Capitol Records-(Torreon Productions) – 1977; Cimarron Recordings Issue No. 1004 American Originals – (Torreon Productions) – 1985; Originally released without license by Bear Family Records, Germany; Cimarron Records Issue No. 1005 Love Songs and The Blues – (Torreon Productions) – 1989; Originally released without license by Bear Family Records, Germany; Cimarron Records Issue No. 1006 The Road to Torreón – (Torreon Productions) – 1992; Originally released without license by Bear Family Records, Germany; Cimarron Records Issue No. 1007 James Talley: Live – (Torreon Productions) – 1994; Originally released without license by Bear Family Records, Germany; Cimarron Records Issue No. 1008 Woody Guthrie and Songs of My Oklahoma Home – (Torreon Productions) – 1999; Cimarron Records Issue No. 1009 Nashville City Blues – (Torreon Productions) – 2000; Cimarron Records Issue No. 1010 Touchstones – (Torreon Productions) – 2002; Cimarron Records Issue No. 1011 Journey – (Torreon Productions) – 2004; Cimarron Records Issue No. 1012 Journey: The Second Journey (Torreon Productions) 2008; Cimarron Records Issue No. 1013 Heartsong'' – (Torreon Productions) 2008; Cimarron Records Issue No. 1014