James Thomson

Released in June 2015 to a wave of critical acclaim, James Thomson's second album Cold Moon wowed multiple national publications and has been heralded as one of the finest Americana albums of recent years.Following the success of their Spring 2015 tour, James Thomson is joined by The Strange Pilgrims; with Craig Rattray on bass, Jason Lowe on steel/lead guitar and Tim Burns (ex-Perry Keyes) on drums. The Highway Nights tour will take the band to new cities and towns along the East coast from Brisbane to Melbourne, kicking off on Friday February 12th at The Rails, Byron Bay.Following successive National tours with Simone Felice (The Felice Brothers) and Mark Olson (The Jayhawks) in support of his self titled debut album, James left Australia in late 2013 to write, perform and travel through the United States. During this trip James wrote the majority of the songs on Cold Moon and once back in Australia headed into the studio for the Cold Moon recording sessions, which were scheduled around a sold out National tour with Nashville-based artists Robert Ellis and Jonny Fritz.Audiences and reviewers rightly note the influence of artists like Neil Young & JJ Cale on James’ music, but his part traditionalist, part renegade approach to song writing see’s these influences fit naturally alongside diverse and less obvious ones like The War on Drugs, The Velvet Underground and Bruce Springsteen.“...That voice and the way he winds it around his guitar, spinning stories in the American music tradition of alt-country and the blues, yet set geographically and spiritually in the Australian idiom… Anyone who has seen him live can vouch for the special songwriting and performing talent Thomson possesses.”- Chris Familton (Post to Wire)“...I really dig this guy”- Peter Jessperson (Twin/Tone Records, The Replacements)“Thomson’s debut album was an introduction to a songwriter already sounding beyond his years in terms of his songs and their lived in delivery. That promise has been refined and stylistically expanded on this exceptional follow up.”- The Music“...There's no agenda besides telling the story via the path of least resistance.”- Rhythms Magazine