James Hunter: People Gonna Talk

CML call number: CD/R&B/Hunter
Ben Sisario wrote in the New York Times: "Mr. Hunter, a 43-year-old former railway worker from Colchester, England, who has spent two decades playing an uncanny simulacrum of early-1960's American R&B in the clubs of London, is going for a mainstream American crossover. Adult-contemporary radio stations around the country have begun to play his songs. … Studiously recreating the delicate and comforting soul sound of [Sam] Cooke, Jackie Wilson and lesser-known figures like Roy Hamilton and Little Willie John, Mr. Hunter has mastered a territory of American music beloved by fans and collectors worldwide. And with touches of Chuck Berry guitar and some falsetto shouts from the playbook of James Brown, his style is too eclectic to be easily pigeonholed. But Mr. Hunter is well aware that even in the retro-rock age of the White Stripes and Joss Stone, his music is out of step. 'I'm not really on a mission to redress any kind of balance,' he said over tea. … 'This is just the stuff that really speaks to me. It might be because some of the rhythms are sexier and the tunes are prettier.' The time for his music, he insists, is not past."