A Maple Ridge singer/songwriter is releasing a blues album that is described as “raw, rough, and dirty,” this month.
James ‘Buddy’ Rogers, who grew up in and lives in Maple Ridge, recorded his upcoming album Everytime in Calgary, Alb.
“It’s raw. We recorded right off the board, so all the mistakes are there unlike conventional studio albums where you go in and clean things up and record in isolation,” explained Rogers.
“It can be challenging to get it sounding as good as you want to get it. But it’s a live album, so it was relatively quick and easy.”
The album showcases a blues trio–Rogers on vocals and guitar, ‘Slammin’ Mike Wedge on bass, and Mike Woodford on drums.
Everytime is a live album that consists of three new unreleased songs and two previously released songs.
Rogers said the new song Everytime is about relationships.
”Everytime is about a dream relationship, essentially. Just like how somebody would relate to having a perfect relationship is what inspired me to write that one.”
All songs on the album are original and written by Rogers, who has been a fan of the blues since he was young.
Rogers’ father Bud worked for the railroad and would bring home records and once a guitar.
“He helped me form a band at a young age,” Rogers said.
He was playing guitar by age 10, and by 11, he’d started gigs.
“I’ve been playing blues since 1989.”
Since, Rogers has gone on to play regularly at blues clubs, open at various shows, tour with bassist Russell Jackson, start his own band, and perform across Canada and Europe.
His favourite part about blues is that there is a lot ofimprovising.
“Well, like the old-school blues guys say ‘the blues are the roots, the rest are the fruits.’ The thing about blues is you can really improvise. A lot of pop culture music, some rock music, the arrangements are set and your parts are your parts. For me, that can get monotonous. I like to do music because I wanted to, not because I had to. With blues, the tempo can be different, you can do different solos, and rearrange the song on the fly by queuing the band.”
His latest accomplishment was winning an award in the blues category of the Fraser Valley Music Awards in December.
“It felt good. The thing in the industry with awards, just getting the nomination is really the feat a lot of musicians will go for. Nobody every remembers at the end of the day who’s won them.”
Rogers’ grew up in the Maple Ridge, Pitt Meadows area and has stopped touring full time in order to raise a family.
On the first Friday of each month, the band performs at Maple Ridge’s Kingfisher Pub at 23840 River Rd. at 9 p.m.
Everytime is released on Jan. 15 and can be found online at www.jamesbuddyrogers.com.
