By Will McGuirk
James Gray has been on a short tour with Josh Kvasnak of the Doozies. We chatted previously with Josh about his new album and of course only fair to reach out to James, who has just dropped a new video for the track ‘Think About Me.’ Gray also has a new album, "New Friends That Talk Like Old Friends"
In an email he says the song is about variety of ideas.
“The main idea being that many folks like to make their own lives difficult and blame it on others. It is an introspective song that says the things that a person's environment may suggest. Life is super busy for most of us and I think many of us do our best thinking while we drive. So I thought a driving video would work for an introspective song like ‘Think About Me’. We shot the video on back roads within 7 kms of my cabin. The video features my pal Isaac's truck and also shots of me in my cabin. My buddy Jesse McCracken who is a brilliant film maker helped bring this vision to life,” says Gray.
The Doozies and James Gray had auditioned for Mariposa 2019. There were hundreds of entries but each of them made it through and thats where they met.
“Both the Doozies and I got into Mariposa and we have remained good friends ever since. The Doozies bring me down multiple times a year to play with them in the Durham region. Since then I have made wonderful friendships with people in the area and performed very memorable shows around Durham,” he says.
Gray grew up in the Muskokas where he now lives and while the serenity of Cottage Country is welcome he loves to venture out to tour and meet new people and learn new lives. He has toured across Canada, Europe and Australia.
He says his songs are little capsules of his own life but also of those he has met on his travels.
“I try to create songs that speak to the human condition by writing about the difficult stuff or trying to look at life from a different angle. I think nothing can leave a person feeling more energized and healed than a good conversation with a person that cares. That is what "New Friends That Talk Like Old Friends" is all about. This idea is what I tried to capture. I like to cite songwriters like John Prine and Townes Van Zandt because I think they are masters at this style of songwriting that really speaks to the human condition,” he says.