Songs of Anthony St. James is out now on Crotalus Records (US)
“Leaving on the Train” b/w “Down on the Avenue”
available via Aldora-Britain Records (UK)
Hear tracks from Songs of Anthony St. James
on radio programs worldwide courtesy of:
NPR // Blues & Roots Radio // Folk Alliance International
“Leaving on the Train” featured on The Bluegrass Situation Class of 2021
and From the Strait Big Indie 2021
“Bayard Park, 1986” featured on
One Chord to Another: New Music Weekly Episode #172
and Columbus Music Magazine February 2022 Best Songs Mix Vol 1
“Christmas Parade” video premiere exclusively on Americana Highways
April 2022 Interview with For the Rabbits
Album Press:
“A vivid collection of working-class story songs. Lyrically dense, creating visceral images and feelings as you listen… a masterwork of storytelling.”
(Adventures in Americana)
“An exceptional storyteller… Songs of Anthony St. James possesses tremendous detail and shows off Anthony St. James’ uncanny ability to capture the very zeitgeist.”
(Beach Sloth)
“Songs in the classic storytelling tradition of folk music, with vivid images of lives being lived on the edges of the mainstream… he raids the great American songbook and crafts tales entirely his own.”
(For the Rabbits)
“(Songs of Anthony St. James) plays like a lost album from the 60’s folk revival…
based in the age-old tradition, but with a much more modern attitude.
An album of great depth & intrigue for sure.”
(Aldora-Britain Records Magazine Issue #82)
“Eloquent storytelling… his meshing of folk, Americana, blues & soul
makes for a timeless & absorbing effort.”
(Take Effect)
“You can hear the way these rich characters & intricate stories all intertwine, from the stark, atmospheric folk of Bayard Park, 1986 to the horns & piano driven coda of Mountain State… a true storyteller’s album.”
(WOJB Folkways)
“Like a modern troubadour playing a classic guitar, Anthony St. James injects warm Americana with elements of blues, country, and even jazz for a solid debut
of earnest, world-weary folk tales.”
(Evolution of Folk)
“A distinct, authentic voice.”
(Greywood Records)
“A great insight into real American life, like visiting houses across the country. If a European wanted to know what America is actually like, instead of what they see on TV, I’d play them Songs of Anthony St. James.”
(Hidden Sound)
Crotalus Records Press Release
For his debut album, Pennsylvania-via-Baltimore singer/songwriter Anthony St. James constructed a studio space in his dim, uncomfortable basement and brought only the essentials: string lights, bourbon, some beat-up guitars and, perhaps most important, a declined invitation to his 20 year high school reunion.
“I think adolescence, early 20’s, those years are tough even under the best of circumstances. I wanted to tell some honest stories about my friends and the company I kept in those days, who lived them under some of the worst circumstances.”
With a title that nods to Leonard Cohen and working-class poetry celebrating the lonely, desperate, and the down-but-not-quite-out, Songs of Anthony St. James is the sound of a sympathetic troubadour serenading lost souls in a dark bar with their own ghost stories.
These are hard luck tales, but there are glimmers of hope in the heartbreak, and even the bleakest moments are uplifted by being played in major keys. You’ll hear hints of Springsteen’s Americana, early Tom Waits and a Workers Playtime Billy Bragg, but the sounds & stories on Songs of Anthony St. James are all his own.
Anthony St. James 