Teresa James
Teresa James was born and raised in Houston, Texas where she was introduced to music at an early age by her father and grandfather, both guitar players in the old school tradition. She starting playing piano at 5 and hasn’t stopped since. Called a singer’s singer by many, when the SAG Singer’s Committee got together to honor composer Randy Newman, Teresa was chosen as the soloist to perform his favorite song to him. She has recorded with Randy Newman, Walter Trout, Eric Burdon, Spencer Davis, Tommy Castro, Stephen Bruton, LeeRoy Parnell, Neil Diamond, and many others. She has performed live with lots of other artists, including: Marcia Ball, Levon Helm, Lloyd Jones, Delbert McClinton, and Eric Burdon & the Animals to mention just a few.
Relocating to Los Angeles in the 80’s, her band, the Rhythm Tramps, is made up of world class players that have toured or recorded with such artists as Eric Burdon & the Animals, Bonnie Raitt, Delbert McClinton, Jimmy Reed, Lightin’ Hopkins, Jimmy Vaughan, Johnny Nash, Smokey Robinson, Tom Jones, Tower Of Power, just to name a few and their songs have been recorded by many other artists. As one critic said, “there are no clichés in this band”. In addition to having toured all over N. America and Europe, she has been one of the featured acts on Delbert McClinton’s Sandy Beaches Cruise for over 20 years.
Her recordings have met with rave reviews (her last four releases have all received 4 star reviews from Downbeat Magazine) and have shown up on radio charts all over the world. Her 2019 release, ‘Here In Babylon’ was nominated for a Grammy for Contemporary Blues Album. In 2008, She was nominated by the Blues Foundation for “Contemporary Female Blues Artist of the Year”.