Artist InformationBiography
BIG CHART NEWS:
NUMBER 7 ON XM 74 BB KINGS BLUESVILLE WEEK OF NOV 14, 20009!!!
NEW REVIEW
..."on the other hand, some of you may not know of her at all, and if that's the case, you need to change that because this gal can sing the blues. Here we are with pretty much half the year still ahead of us, and I'm thinking I may have just listened to the 2009 Blewzzy Award winning disc. Trust me when I say it - once you listen, you'll have discovered the woman that the blues world will soon be marveling over - Cee Cee James.
Peter "Blewzzman" Lauro - Blues Editor @ www.Mary4Music.com
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KLAMATH BLUES FESTIVAL - PERFORMANCE REVIEW
The real treat of the afternoon was Cee Cee James, a Seattle area blues performer. Her band is ideal for her voice and style and her performance, electrifying. She is one of the few women blues performers who appears to be genuine; the real deal. On some tunes she channeled Janis Joplin; a fact not missed by the DJ who asked her to treat us with the first stanza of Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz...perfectly. If you have any blues in you at all, seek out Cee Cee James. I have been listening to her CD, Low Down Where the Snakes Crawl and love every cut. The fidelity is super. Her band is balanced and sharp. Buy the CD and thrill your neighbors when you play it way too loud, as I am right now.
Rita Ashley - Seattle Executive Careers Examiner
http://www.examiner.com
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WHO LET THE GIRLS OUT?
"...she appears to be loved by some, panned by others, and regardless of the vocal mega talent, has never been recognized by the right people. As her set continued, the vocal talent and stage presence became obvious. Her version of Red House combined great music and lyrics with gutsy, raw vocals and superior stage appeal. This woman is a riveting performer, primarily in the rock and R & B genres. If you like this type of music, I highly recommend taking in one of her shows."
Roy Brown - WA Blues Society Bluesletter
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ABOUT CEE CEE JAMES AND "LOW DOWN WHERE THE SNAKES CRAWL"
What a long strange trip its been for vocalist/songwriter Cee Cee James whose recent release “LOW DOWN WHERE THE SNAKES CRAWL” is chock full of a total and complete life shifting journey she began in 2001 as her numb struggling existence got pulled into a vortex of change that lasted seven years.
Born as Christina James in the great fertile Northwest of Portland Oregon among the tall fir trees, full rivers and beautiful moist green landscape, Cee Cee's Mother was forced to move the family to California when Cee Cee was five years old. But the Northwest stayed in her soul and in December 2004, after a sad divorce in 2001, and the loss of her 2nd Partner to cancer in 2004, she bid her long time Southern California musicians farewell, sold her house and took herself back in Portland to metaphorically be born again, stepping into her true self as a woman and human being.
Feeling the continual push from her fans for a new CD, Cee Cee had planned to immediately begin writing and recording when she got settled. Within a few months she had put together a strong band of stellar Portland musicians who very quickly began to get into some of the best blues clubs Portland had to offer. However, the studio sessions for “LOW DOWN WHERE THE SNAKES CRAWL” would continue to be out of Cee Cee’s reach until late 2007 after yet another move even further North into Washington State where the intense spinning vortex of change finally let go of her life and “LOW DOWN WHERE THE SNAKES CRAWL” began to take shape.
Like the green moist Northwest where she was born and now come home to, “LOW DOWN WHERE THE SNAKES CRAWL” is rich and full of soul provoking lyrics set into contemporary roots and blues based musical landscapes inspired by Rob “Slideboy” Andrews, Cee Cee's songwriting partner and husband. Rob "Slideboy" Andrews cut his musical path playing bass in the Bay area for 35 years as a sideman for Filmore Slim, Luther Tucker and many other deeply traditional blues lineups. He set the bass down when he married Cee Cee and began playing rhythm and slide guitar where his previously untapped natural songwriting skills began to come through.
Cee Cee’s production, arranging skills, and talents were honed and sharpened in the writing and recording of her highly touted late 1999 award winning pop/funk release “SPIRITUALLY WET,” where she worked side by side with Los Angeles based producer Kaylene Peoples and mixing engineer Rich Mouser. "SPIRITUALLY WET" is full of contemplative lyrics set to "feel good," track heavy, "ear candy" music that dives lyrically into many of the subjects that Cee Cee will always feel passionate about. Freedom to be who you are and letting other people be who they are without judgments or condemnations; the benefits of positive and negative experiences in life; challenging the rules and restrictions we place upon our souls; the questions behind the hunger for love; natures reciprocation in love and in our creative paths; how change in ones personal life has a world wide affect; and how we really don't need to worry about where we are going, as we are always guided to where we need to be and go for our soul's growth.
As a result of the invaluable studio experience with "SPIRITUALLY WET," Cee Cee had a heavy hand in the writing, production and arranging on “LOW DOWN WHERE THE SNAKES CRAWL." “LOW DOWN WHERE THE SNAKES CRAWL" expresses that seven year chapter of change and includes a huge shift away from the pop and funk she had been previously writing and recording on “SPIRITUALLY WET.” Hiking on Cowels Mountain in Santee, CA outside of San Diego in the late Spring of 2001, Cee Cee says "I heard Stevie Ray Vaughan whispering to me from the Heavens... "Go back to your roots girl.. go back to what you do best," which I intuitively knew was the blues, low-down roots and soul." Beginning with the sad angst of lost love in the first song and title track, to the final victorious tribute about the man she lost to cancer in “Spirit of the Shaman,” Cee Cee weaves in stark, vulnerable and revealing lyrics, her Cherokee roots, and her life changing relationship with the desert.
Cee Cee’s soul and artistic influences are all over the map. “Raw and Real,” is her criteria. “Out of the box," as she calls it. “Performances, music and lyrics that push the envelope of the soul straight down into the gut of life.” Howling Wolf, Big Mamma Thornton, Janis Joplin, Joe Cocker, Stevie Ray Vaughan; then dippin’ into the soul of things - Mavis Staples, Ike and Tina Turner, Bill Withers, Ray LaMontagne, Chris Whitley; and of course the funk - James Brown, Prince and everything in-between; with a recent discovery which she finds 'amazingly stellar,' JJ Grey and Mofro. Cee Cee feels them all and it’s obvious in her ‘low down and gritty’ performances where as she says, “My thing is... in all my writing, singing and performance is to make the songs come alive for people. To open up the mind, heart and soul with the fire of an intense gut wrenching performance full of vulnerability, honesty and truth. What else am I up on that stage for?" Cee Cee does just that and more, inspiring strong CD sales with her intense ‘take no prisoner' performances where the audience climbs inside the deep ache and gut in every note she sings and evokes on stage.
“LOW DOWN WHERE THE SNAKES CRAWL” is somewhat tame compared to the kind of energy Cee Cee and her band bring to the live stages they play, but the songs needed to be written after those seven years of intense change in order for her artistic soul to embrace and express the shift and move forward with the significance of those seven years defined by WikiAnswers as "7 signifies divinely determined completeness." Kyle Deibler, President of the Phoenix Blues Society, describes Cee Cee's process in this 'completion' perfectly: “Cee Cee James writes songs from a place of emotional honesty that few artists care to reveal. The result is an intimate, sometimes guttural view of a woman who isn’t afraid to face her demons and work out her life’s lessons. This is definitely an excellent record from a female artist who isn’t afraid to bare her soul. I applaud her for that.”
Cee Cee is truly hitting her stride with “LOW DOWN WHERE THE SNAKES CRAWL” receiving more and more live performance requests, a continually increasing fan base, CD sales, and radio play around the world with two of the cuts from the CD, “Love Makes Change,” and “I’ll Ask the Questions You Tell the Lies,” currently being played on XM 74 - B.B. King's Bluesville.
Currently being shopped to American and European labels and booking agents by East Coast Windmill Music’s Michael Packer, it’s just a matter of time before this ‘VOCAL VOLCANO,’ (as Robert Horn, writer for the Washing Blues Society, has aptly dubbed her), is a National act.
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AIRPLAY
*XM Radio - BB King’s Bluesville - XM 74
*KMHD 89.1 FM - The Lowdown W/Jane Martin Manning / http://www.kmhd.fm
*BLUES DELUXE - http://www.rootsmusicreport.com
*KPLU - 88.5 FM Seattle/Tacoma - Weekends with John Kessler
*KSER - 90.7 FM Everett, WA / KSER.org (Clancy's Bar & Grill)
*Hambones Blues Rumshack Podcast, UK / therumshack.com
*KCSB 91.9 Views of the Blues with Steve Daniels
Santa Barbara Blues Society
*WPKN-FM 89.5 & 88.7 New York/Connecticut
*BLUES THERAPY - KWCW - 90.5 FM;
KWCW 90.5 FM Walla Walla, OR
*http://maxwellstreet.ifrance.com/
*Emission Pulsions 70
http://www. radio-aria. net/aria/
http://www. radiosblues. com/
*http://www.highwayblues.org/
*http://www.radiovilafant.net - Spain
*http://www.ms-blues.com -France
*KRVM 91.9 FM, Eugene, OR with Steve Spoulos!
http://www.krvm.org
*WRTB-FM Sunday Morning Blues with Rich Gordon - Rodeford, ILL
*KMUD with JoMamma - Garberville, CA
*Blues.pl/draheim- Poland
*Radiooun.no - Norway
*TakeNamesLater-Kunr-FM, Reno
*AtlantisStraightAhead-Kjiv Community Radio, Reno
*KPSU with Nadine Colb, Portland, OR
*Mojo Blues 94.1 FM Radio 2 - Macedonia
*TOPBLUES - http://www.topblues.com
*Hammered By The Blues - KOWZ1170am So. MN - http://www.boundarywatersradio.com
*CKCU 93.1 FM, Ottawa, ON Canada - www.ckcufm.com W/Misty Blue-D.D. Rocker
Instrumentation
Trio and Full Band Showcases Available
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~ ~ ~ REGULAR CREW ~ ~ ~
- Cee Cee James - Vocals
- Rob Andrews - Slide/Rhythm Guitar
- Dan Mohler - Bass
- Chris Leighton - Drums
- Jason Childs - Lead Guitar
Discography
~ LOW DOWN WHERE THE SNAKES CRAWL ~
(C)(P) 2008 FWG Records
Listen here on Audio Link!
~ HE CALLED ME ANGEL ~
(C)(P) 2007 FWG Records
Listen here on Audio Link!
~ DEMO DISK (Covers) 2003
Listen at ceeceejames.com/music.html
~ SPIRITUALLY WET ~
(C)(P) 1999 FWG Records
2001 Los Angeles Music R&B Award
Listen here at www.sonicbids.com/funkywhitegirl
Links
| http://www.ceeceejames.com |
| Cee Cee James - My Space |
| FunkyWhiteGirl - Sonic Bids |
| FunkyWhiteGirl - CDBaby |