National Steel (album)

National Steel
Studio album by Colin James
Released 8 October, 1997
Recorded 1997
Genre Blues
Length 50:41
Label Warner
Producer Colin James, Colin Linden
Colin James chronology

Then Again...
(1995)		 National Steel
(1997)		 Colin James and the Little Big Band II
(1999)
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National Steel is a blues album by Canadian musician Colin James, released in 1997 (see 1997 in music). The album was recorded at Rat's Ass Studios and Mushroom Studios in Vancouver, British Columbia and mastered at MasterDisk in New York City.

James teams up with his longtime friend Colin Linden to record a predominantly acoustic album running the gamut from delta blues, to jug band and Chicago blues. The album covers songs written by some of the greatest bluesmen including Otis Redding, Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, and Willie Dixon. The CD liner notes offer a brief commentary by James on many of the tracks.

The album is named after the resonator guitar made by the National guitar company, also pictured on the album's cover.

National Steel earned James the 1998 Juno Award for "Best Blues Album".

Track listing

  1. "Shout Baby Shout" (Rachell) – 3:15
  2. "Rollin' Stone" (Waters) – 3:21
  3. "National Steel" (James/Burgess/Ward) – 4:52
  4. "These Arms of Mine" (Redding) – 4:44
  5. "Going Up to the Country" (Mahal) – 4:11
  6. "Fixin' to Die" (Bukka White) – 4:28
  7. "Somebody Have Mercy" (Cooke) – 3:32
  8. "Postman's Sack" (Bradshaw) – 1:40
  9. "Please Baby" (Chatmon) – 3:41
  10. "Ride & Roll" (McGhee) – 2:39
  11. "I Live the Life I Love" (Dixon) – 3:39
  12. "My Mind Is On Vacation" (Allison) – 3:34
  13. "Before the Dawn" (Linden) – 4:24
  14. "Kind-Hearted Woman" (Johnson) – 2:41

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