Songs of Anthony St. James is out now on Crotalus Records (US)
and Aldora-Britain Records (UK)!
Hear “Leaving on the Train” featured on:
The Bluegrass Situation: Class of 2021
From the Strait: Big Indie 2021
“Bayard Park, 1986” featured on:
One Chord to Another: New Music Weekly Episode #172
Columbus Music Magazine February 2022 Best Songs Mix Vol 1
Catch the video premiere of “Christmas Parade” 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)
“Eloquent storytelling… his meshing of folk, Americana, blues & soul makes for a timeless & absorbing effort.” (Take Effect)
“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)
Hear tracks from Songs of Anthony St. James on these fantastic radio programs:
NPR (WPSU) // Valley FM 89.5 // VYPA Radio // Banks Radio Australia // Black on Track // Mark Skin Radio // Next Up with Tommy Clark // Third Class Ticket Radio Show // Brutha Voodoo’s Playlist // Ayrshire Online Radio // Pulse Community Radio // Cactus Rock Radio // CHR Conquest Community Radio // Christian’s Cosmic Corner // Wolfman Rocks Radio // SIX6 Selectors // The View From Nowhere (WAKT 106.1 FM) // Harmony Ridge (KVMR Radio) // The Waking Hours (WMNF) // Hardly Strictly Radio (WNPG) // Folk Odyssey // American Routes // Serendipity Radio // From the Joshua Tree Inn (WEFT) // Common Threads (WAER) // WOJB Folkways // Blues & Roots Radio // WRKE Roanoke Radio
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.
“Adolescence, early 20s… I think 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 