Photo: Kirk James, on the deck.
Once upon a time, bluesman Albert King revamped the song “The Very Thought of You” into something very special. The soulful, bluesy version of the ballad appeared on his 1967 album Born Under a Bad Sign.
Listening to the song makes me feel good… really good! But for some inexplicable reason it sometimes brings a tear to my eye. What a wonderful contradiction – a sort of musical alchemy.
(My psychiatrist said I was getting better. So I fired the quack!)
The Kirk James Blues Band: “Blues that’ll make ya feel good!”
After I joined the band in around 2000, I found that Kirk was using the same technique that Albert King had used successfully: taking pop-oriented songs and transforming them into poignant blues tunes; songs such as “Dead Flowers” by the Stones, and “Sweet Melissa” by the Allman Brothers. And Kirk’s smoky voice was tinged with that smooth Texas accent.
Of course, Kirk wrote his own music, and played a variety of blues. “Blues that’ll make ya feel good” was not only a snappy slogan, in practice it was inspirational for the listeners, the dancers and the sidemen. I don’t think there was a single song throughout my lengthy association with Kirk that didn’t make me feel good.
Professorial Kirk, “the Bluzman,” was a walking, talking blues encyclopedia. He could’ve taught an advanced course in Blues History and/or Appreciation. He was completely engrossed in the genre, and it manifested itself on stage. He was the real McCoy.
If you listen to his 1998 solo album The Way It Goes, his vocals and picking are righteous; but his slide playing is over the top!
Back in Dallas in the seventies, a young Kirk James had listened to my band, the Bee’s Knees, on the radio. Bluesman Anson Funderburgh was our lead guitarist. I was thirteen years older than Kirk, but none the wiser. Our Dallas connection had given us a lot in common: we hailed from the same place and spoke the same language. (At times, we probably needed an interpreter, the way we went on.)
Low-end technician, John June of Brian Flynn fame, played bass. He and I formed a solid foundation for Kirk, and had a hell of a good time backing him. The three of us had a lot of fun on and off stage. I stayed with Kirk at his house a great deal of the time. We also had another connection: we were both Harley riders.
Sometimes other players joined us on stage. Big, bad Bob Hemenger on tenor sax played many gigs with us off and on for years. Guitarist Larry Carver and world class keyboardist Brant Leeper joined us for several shows. Other times, versatile Mike McCallister filled in for John on bass.
Mike had joined me in the DC Allstars to play a one-time jazz concert in Pagosa Springs. The other players were my old friend from Dallas, piano man extraordinaire, Dale McFarland, Bob Hemenger on sax and Tom Newnam on trumpet. It was an enjoyable show indeed! (And no one was seriously injured . . .)
On the move:
We gigged at Scoot n’ Blues for Tony Milan quite a bit and the Buffalo Inn and the Bear Creek Saloon in Pagosa, and the Chimney Rock Tavern; clubs at Vallecito, Purgatory, etc. And outdoor gigs at the James Ranch and Wines of the San Juans near Blanco, New Mexico. Of course we did the mandatory roadwork. Some of the more fun (and profitable) venues were The Bird Cage on Whiskey Row in Prescott, Arizona, The Mogollon Brewery in Flagstaff, the Floradora Saloon in Telluride, Boomers in Grand Junction, Purple Haze in Aztec, NM; Farmington, Delores, Cortez, and a slew of other towns and joints that I’ve forgotten about. It was a good circuit. The crowds were lively and all the club owners were reasonably good-natured and paid us in full.
We played the Iron Horse Bike Rally in Ignacio several times opening up for Edgar Winters, another time for Bachman-Turner Overdrive, and others; the Wildflower Music Festival with Creedence Clearwater Revisited, and Arlo Guthrie; and the Gateway Blues Festival in Gateway, Colorado. We played biker parties, poker runs, the Durango Harley-Davidson dealership several times as well as the Farmington dealership at least once.
My favorite gigs were at the Floradora Saloon in Telluride during the famous Blues & Brews Festival. Every September we played for packed houses and occasionally got backstage passes to the main events. The crowds were enormous – and so was the traffic, consequently creating a parking nightmare. We would unload our equipment and then search for a parking space. Once parked, we left our vehicles there for the duration of the festival.
DC’s essay: “Telluride Blues & Brews”
One evening, Denver blues artist Erica Brown sat in with the band and together we brought down the house. At the Floradora I set up my drums in the big bay window at the front of the club. Surrounded by large windows, the enthusiastic fans peered in and watched my every move. Always the incorrigible ham, I kept them in stitches. Those were some great memories with the Kirk James Blues Band!
The only constant in life is change.
––Heraclitus
Texas singer/guitar slinger Jeff Strahan had moved to Durango and was playing the circuit. One night he strutted into Scoot n’ Blues and introduced himself to the band. He told Kirk how much he enjoyed his playing and made a point of saying what a great rhythm section he had. And then he asked me for my cell number. A few years after that first encounter, Jeff called me and offered to buy John and me lunch, that he had a business proposition for us.
A few days later at lunch, Jeff offered us a job with him. He was basically trying to steal Kirk’s rhythm section! At first, John and I were reluctant to even consider the suggestion. But then he basically made us an offer we couldn’t refuse. It seems that Jeff was quite well off, and the possibility of earning more money was a strong consideration. John and I relied entirely on music as a livelihood. We didn’t have any other source of income, whereas Kirk was a commercial artist with an actual office on Main Street in downtown Durango.
John and I finally came to the conclusion that it would be a good business opportunity even though it would cause Kirk a great deal of disappointment. (That turned out to be a gross understatement!)
So, for the next few years I played drums for Jeff Strahan and recorded two albums for the man. But in 2009, that “tour of duty” finally came to a halt – at least a disruption – when he moved back to Texas. Jeff often returned to Colorado where I’d join him for recording and gigging; and then one final tour in 2013.
One of the other players I was “overlapping” with was Dean Murphy, alias “Mean Dean” Murphy, another bluesman. Kirk, Dean and Jeff were all blues guitarists, but each man had his own style. Sort of like apples, oranges and kumquats…
Sometimes playing with several bands at once was confusing. The dates and music became intertwined – I called it spaghetti.
Kirk had heard that I was on the loose and gave me a call. (Of course he did, we were brothers.) Kirk asked me to rejoin the band with his bass player, Hal Lott. Suddenly, I was accepted back into the fold, and I breathed a sigh of relief. I’m sorry to say that Kirk had lost a great deal of trust in me, and from that point on he was a bit cautious. But luckily, the fire was still there!
The Kirk James Blues Band live at Chimney Rock Tavern
Round two with Kirk and Hal was good. We settled into a nice groove and the music was sounding “mighty fine, mighty pretty.” Hal Lott, a professional photographer, was from Houston and had brought his Texas Blues chops with him to Colorado. He and I had some great moments together musically, and it was really fun playing again with Kirk.
The Kirk James Blues band played on! One of my favorite concerts was at the Gateway Blues Festival in August, 2009. Everything about that performance was right-on. Plus, the accommodations and food were excellent. And the icing on the cake was having my wife, Jayebird, by my side for a change.
The last gig I did with Kirk was a big show in Pagosa called The Blues Box, November 3, 2018. I was musical director and was in charge of putting a blues band together. Of course, the first player I hired was the Bluzman himself, Mr. Kirk James. The show starred Faith Evangeline and Blue Haas, with Bob Hemenger on sax, vocalist Blue Haas, Jack Maynes on piano, Evan Suiter on bass, and DC on drums. The band was resplendent in our tuxes, and sounded great! The show was a smashing success raising lots of money for the Pagosa Peak Open School. A fitting way to conclude the James/Duncan collaboration.
On January 1, 2020 I finally retired from the music business and five years later sold all my drum equipment. It was a sad day, so I posted a statement on social media about saying goodbye to my precious drums.
Kirk replied and posted this on my page on August 16, 2025:
Kirk:
It was fun while it lasted. Cool that we got to play together for a number of years. And glad I got to hear you play with the Bee’s Knees in the ‘70s with Anson Funderburgh.
DC:
It was a pleasure playing with you, my brother!
The next day, Kirk was riding his Harley back from Silverton when he suffered a massive heart attack near Purgatory. He passed away while seeking help.
I’m dedicating this song to the lovely MaryJo Royce James in honor of her late husband.
Read “Ode to My Friend, the Late Great Kirk James”
DC has been a frustrated musician for over fifty years, and now has decided to become a frustrated writer. Learn more at DCDuncan.com. He’ll keep you posted.