I first met Hunter James over a decade ago at Aviary in Austin—a wonderfully weird wine bar / home decor store hybrid we both frequented most Fridays. Started talking about music when my wife’s revolving collection of Hurray for the Riff Raff t-shirts signaled we had overlapping tastes.
At some point I learned of his songwriting and he started texting me demos for feedback. (I say “at some point” like we don’t live in a future where it’s all automatically logged and documented. “Sugar” joined my iTunes library on Halloween of 2015, now a red letter date in the history of dangerous folk rock appeal.) I vividly recall excitedly telling my wife “Hunter sent a song and it’s legit good, not just our friend wrote a song good.”
The tunes kept coming, and “legit good” became an understatement. I have nearly a hundred Hunter James songs in my archives, many of which I’ll randomly catch myself singing or quoting. (A half awesome, half embarrassing candid video my wife took of me singing along to “Goodbye One More Try” while cooking surfaces in group text threads every few years. It’s catchy!)
The twenty tracks chosen for this collection are mostly oldies to me, but hearing them evolve over the years from rough acoustic drafts to pandemic lawn dinner entertainment to open mic night singalongs to fully realized DIY cuts has been a magical ride.
Fun facts bordering on humble brags: I titled three songs, suggested one or two lyrical word tweaks on a few others, heavily petitioned for four of my favorites to make the ever expanding final cut, and prompted the album art concept. I’m not saying I’m Hunter’s Rick Rubin, but I’m also not not saying that. (His muse is his wife Liz, who makes a very astute observation in the autobiographical penultimate track.)
But this isn’t about my minuscule nudges that may or may not have helped this project along and got ignored more than embraced. It’s about the mighty Hunter James with the best double album debut this side of Benji Hughes!
Seeing these songs and stories in the wider world makes me happy. Cheers to Hunter for falling away and getting them out there in a way that would make his father and his sons proud. And cheers to all y’all knowing if you dig these jams there are plenty more to come.
(Wait ’til you hear his crime album tentatively/hopefully coming next…)
