James Meston
Encyclopedia
"Sweet Baby" James Meston is an Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...

, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

-based Blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...

 guitarist who was named as Official Ambassador of the 2007 Australian Blues Festival. He has shared the stage with Blues-rocker Jeff Healy and Canadian Blues queen Sue Foley
Sue Foley
Sue Foley is a Canadian blues singer and guitarist.-Career:Foley has been writing and playing professionally since 1984. She has recorded ten albums, for both Antone's Records and Shanachie Records. She has spent over fourteen years on the road as a bandleader, lead vocalist, guitarist and...

. James was also the subject of a 2-page feature article in the 7 April issue of Australian Guitar Magazine.

James started performing in Adelaide bands in 1993 at the age of 18, including "Greg Baker's Blues Party" and "Blind Dog Taylor & The Healers". In 1997, he relocated to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 and through regular jamming at the high-profile Monday night blues jam at "The Weavers Arms" pub he managed to go on to do regular work with David Hadley-Ray, Pete Brown
Pete Brown
Peter Ronald Brown is an English performance poet and lyricist.Best known for his collaborations with Jack Bruce, Brown also worked with The Battered Ornaments, formed his own group Pete Brown & Piblokto!, and worked with Graham Bond and Phil Ryan. Brown also writes film scores and formed a film...

 and a short stint with "The Big Town Playboys
Big Town Playboys
The Big Town Playboys are a six-piece acoustic British rhythm and blues revival group. Founded by Ricky Cool and Andy Silvester in 1984, they covered American music from the 1940s and 1950s, such as that of Amos Milburn and Little Walter....

", filling in for regular guitarist Andy Fairweather-Low
Andy Fairweather-Low
Andrew Fairweather Low is a Welsh guitarist, songwriter and vocalist. He was a founding member of 1960s British pop band, Amen Corner, and in recent years has toured extensively with Roger Waters, Eric Clapton and Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings.-Early career:Fairweather Low first found fame as a...

 while he was on tour with Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...

 in 1998.

Since returning to Australia at the end of 1998, James has worked as both a trio and, since 2002, as a duo with drummer Rob Eyers in "Sweet Baby James and Rob Eyers
Sweet Baby James and Rob Eyers
Sweet Baby James & Rob Eyers are a blues duo from Adelaide, Australia, made up of James Meston and Rob Eyers . Rhythms Magazine have described them as "fantastic, their two-piece guitar/drum combo outshoots The White Stripes, The Black Keys, The Mess Hall, the Fumes, anyone you care to mention"...

". Their 2005 album "Rhythm 'n' Blues" (Black Market Music (record label)
Black Market Music (record label)
Based in Melbourne, Australia, Black Market Music began in 1991 with the aim of bringing international blues and roots music to the Australian public through an import and retail business...

) was well received by audiences and critics, and their new album is due out in July/August 2009. Rhythms Magazine said this in a 2008 issue of their performance at the Australian Blues Music Festival: "Sweet Baby James and Rob Eyers
Sweet Baby James and Rob Eyers
Sweet Baby James & Rob Eyers are a blues duo from Adelaide, Australia, made up of James Meston and Rob Eyers . Rhythms Magazine have described them as "fantastic, their two-piece guitar/drum combo outshoots The White Stripes, The Black Keys, The Mess Hall, the Fumes, anyone you care to mention"...

, these guys are fantastic, their two-piece guitar/drum combo outshoots the White Stripes, the Black Keys, the Mess Hall, the Fumes, anyone you care to mention". James has also done a number of session guitar appearances on albums by Brian Cadd
Brian Cadd
Brian George Cadd is an Australian singer-songwriter, keyboardist and producer who has performed as a member of The Groop, Axiom, Flying Burrito Brothers and solo...

, The 3 Dolls, Heather Frahn, Charlotte Mudge and Raw Honey.

Stylistically, his current sound is heavily influenced by R. L. Burnside
R. L. Burnside
Not to be confused with R. H. Burnside, stage director.R. L. Burnside , born Robert Lee Burnside, was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist who lived much of his life in and around Holly Springs, Mississippi. He played music for much of his life, but did not receive much attention...

, Elmore James
Elmore James
Elmore James was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter and band leader. He was known as "the King of the Slide Guitar" and had a unique guitar style, noted for his use of loud amplification and his stirring voice.-Biography:James was born Elmore Brooks in the old Richland community in...

, Muddy Waters
Muddy Waters
McKinley Morganfield , known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues musician, generally considered the "father of modern Chicago blues"...

 and Sue Foley
Sue Foley
Sue Foley is a Canadian blues singer and guitarist.-Career:Foley has been writing and playing professionally since 1984. She has recorded ten albums, for both Antone's Records and Shanachie Records. She has spent over fourteen years on the road as a bandleader, lead vocalist, guitarist and...

. He has always used Fender
Fender
Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, commonly referred to as simply Fender, of Scottsdale, Arizona is a manufacturer of stringed instruments and amplifiers, such as solid-body electric guitars, including the Stratocaster and the Telecaster...

 electric guitars and Maton
Maton
Maton is an Australian manufacturer of guitars and other fretted musical instruments.Maton was founded in 1946 as the Maton Musical Instruments Company by Bill May and his brother Reg...

 acoustic guitars. He endorses amplifiers from Peavey Electronics
Peavey Electronics
Peavey Electronics Corporation is one of the largest audio equipment manufacturers in the world, headquartered in Meridian, Mississippi in the United States.- History :...

, Stobie & Co Glass Guitar Slides and Pure Tone Guitar Strings.
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