King of the Blues from James Reams

James Reams has released a new single from his recently released album, Like A Flowing River, the soundtrack to the documentary film about his musical career, Like A Flowing River: A Bluegrass Passage.

The movie, available on DVD and for rental via Amazon Prime, follows James from the time he launched as a bluegrass artist in 1993, looking at ups and downs in his career, with many samplings from his recorded output.

For this latest single, he has selected King of the Blues, a sad song about a man who having lost it all, sardonically notes that at least he is the top man in the hard times department.

Reams says that he enjoys this baleful number.

“I love this song because most of life experiences involve relationships. When relationships are over, they can leave complete chaos. Songwriting is wonderful because it’s self-expression which naturally lends itself to a story like this about the end of love and the following destruction.”

Check it out in this lyric video.

The album contains 31 songs, some of them previously unreleased, including several live cuts with his touring group, The Barnstormers, and with legendary banjo player Walter Hensley and Tom Paley of The New Lost City Ramblers.

Bothe the album and the single can be found from popular download and streaming sites online.

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About the Author

John Lawless

John had served as primary author and editor for The Bluegrass Blog from its launch in 2004 until being folded into Bluegrass Today in September of 2011. He continues in that capacity here, managing a strong team of columnists and correspondents.