From London to Laurel Canyon — Singer-Songwriter James Carrington’s Phoenix-like Return to Hollywood
The canyons up in the Hollywood Hills in LA overlook the Sunset Strip and other famous landmarks, and have inspired many artists. For example, George Harrison wrote “Blue Jay Way” while visiting up in the hills. Similarly, UK-born Singer-Songwriter James Carrington used to hang in these canyons writing poignant and heart-breaking songs (like “Ache”) that featured on hit US TV shows like Smallville, ER, and The Vampire Diaries, and he was commissioned to write songs like “Lights” for award-winning director Werner Herzog’s movie Rescue Dawn, starring Christian Bale.
That was then back in Carrington’s heady days, from 2010 to 2020, a period when his “The Dreamers Machine” LP was recorded at the famous Henson Studios in Los Angeles, in Paris, and at the legendary Abbey Road Studios.
But then Carrington went through a substance use disorder (SUD) phase, and went into rehab back in the UK. Now, he’s returning to Los Angeles, playing in the heart of Hollywood at Hotel Café on May 16, performing some songs solo, and some from “Let’s Be Bees,” a wonderful project he’s doing with Grammy-nomiAnated and LA engineer Jesse String.
Of his return to LA, Carrington says of the City of Angels: “It was somewhere I loved for many years until it went horribly wrong. Coming back to do a gig here feels like a ‘rise from the ashes’ because the ashes is what I became when I fell apart and had to go to a rehab in Scotland. Working on my recovery and going through the changes that brings, and also the atonements that you make, is in a sense a rising back up. I am a very different man now than I was in 2019.”
Two of Carrington’s songs, which are always very personal and affecting, were also used on the award-winning documentary, Skid Row, about the desperate plight of the homeless in LA. Moreover, his “The Dreamers Machine,” which featured some of the world’s greatest session players, was also mixed and co-produced by James Guthrie, the Grammy Award-winning producer and engineer of Pink Floyd.
So, his resume is jam-packed with high-flying members of the international music community. But, his SUD experience has now brought him into a new community and “fellowship,” while he also returns to his Hollywood music tribe.
Singer and songwriter, musician and teacher, and doting father James Carrington recently had the honor of filling in for Ralph McTell — perhaps, the most successful English folk musician of his generation — and then singing McTell’s “Streets of London,” which has been covered by over 200 artists, at a memorial service in Westminster Cathedral.
Here Carrington talks about: his new music; performing a different and deeper take on his older catalog; his new serving and teaching goals; his “Let’s Be Bees” project with Jesse String; and, also about his SUD and AA experience, honestly quipping, “There are more AA meetings here in LA per square mile than in any other city on earth.”
— Your recently released song “I Warm My Bones in the Sun” seemed to offer a brighter, bigger sound — so, how is your present music reflecting your renewed and sober self?
— I feel there’s a deeper sense of realism to my music now and it has been inspired by what I’ve gone through. “I Warm My Bones in the Sun” is, for me, a paean to my higher power — something I now have in my life that didn’t exist before. Sobriety brings clarity and truth and I think that is being reflected in the songs I’m writing but also in the way I perform them and the older ones too. Being on stage is about sharing these truths and this new way of being which, I hope, is inspiring to my listeners.
— What are your new songs inspired by, and when you perform older songs, do they take on a different feel now?
— There are two new songs that were written in rehab that are a direct result of addiction and the experience of it and journey out of it. The first new song, “Truth and Reconciliation,” I wrote towards the end of the 2nd week there. It’s a searing look at what we do and what happens to us but the last verse offers hope and light that comes through the program of Alcoholics Anonymous. The heard the final line of the lyric at the end of one of my first AA meetings when a man turned to the rest of us and said, “What lives in the darkness dies in the light.” I never forgot it and when I came to write this song it presented itself at the end of the last verse in just the right way. Which so often seems to happen these days. The other song “Just Can’t Do This on My Own” is that realization that we can’t get through this alone and I think that’s crucial for alcoholics and addicts but also for all of us. It’s no surprise that the chorus of that song has become the one that the audiences pick up on and join in singing. Which is always such a thrill for an artist. As for my older songs, they’ve definitely found new meanings and the lyrics that once meant something specific to me have taken on a new feeling. It’s been a joy to revisit them, re-evaluate them and breathe new life into them.
— In your very affecting song “Ache,” have you ever reconciled with that person about whom you sing, “Have I told you I ache for you?”
— It’s an ongoing process. That song was originally written for someone I loved who I have now become friends with again. Then, like so many songs, it took on a new meaning when I fell in love with and eventually married the mother of my children. It became very much about that person who I was with for 11 years, and our love and my hope for reconciliation remains strong. It’s something that takes time and I don’t get to have any control over, which is both painful and uncomfortable but something you have to face as a result of your behavior. Addiction is a disease for which we are not responsible but we ARE responsible for our recovery from it and the wreckage of your past is one of the hardest things you have to face up to and have to deal with. You can only do that slowly, one day at a time…one of the many lessons I am learning in recovery.
— James, can you talk about your AA experience, and what you’re attempting to do now?
— AA is an incredible fellowship and the 12 Steps an amazing life-changing process. Staying sober and clean is hard and requires daily work to ensure against a slip but the real magic comes in the changes you undergo, the genuine honesty you begin to practice all the time, and the work on your defects that helps to make you a better person. Then there’s the friendships and support that you make and receive that bring a whole new dynamic into your life. People in recovery are there for each other in a way I’ve never experienced before. And they do it because they want to. It’s an essential part of it. Reconciling with my family is my greatest wish but it takes time. Bridges were burned, trust was broken and to gain that trust back and be let back into the fold takes time, patience and a lot of self-searching and humility. I am hopeful but I try to keep my expectations low.
— What will you be performing at Hotel Café and what should your audience expect to hear from your “return” performance on May 16?
— I’ll be performing some songs solo, and some with Jesse String as “Let’s Be Bees,” which will be our debut. Very exciting. The Hotel Cafe should expect to hear strong melodies, honesty and humor from me in between songs and have some real fun with the “Let’s Be Bees” music. I have lots of co-writing projects coming up with artists and I think there’s another album in me that I want to write. Additionally, I’m always willing to perform if asked.
— What are your teaching music goals moving forward?
— I have a teaching project I am working on which will be a series of online courses mainly based on songwriting, but also including ideas for guitar, piano and singing which will be getting across my own personal ideas and methods of teaching that I have accrued over these last 16 years. I’ll also be doing masterclasses in schools. I’m deeply passionate about my teaching and have such a colorful life doing it. I have twenty students at the moment ranging from a 6-year-old, who’s already writing her own songs, to a blind man in his sixties learning the piano. Being a father myself, I was inspired to create this “Let’s Be Bees” project with Jesse String which started when we made an album of original songs for kids and, very importantly, their long-suffering parents and carers. We created songs that both parties would enjoy and be okay repeating incessantly. As for this upcoming performance, which brings me back to Hollywood, I feel hopeful, much like that symbolic Phoenix, that my music will once again resonate with past associates, new friends, and with family.
Drop in on James Carrington’s website to check out his music, like “Ache,” and news updates. And, also check out Carrington’s YouTube Channel, and Hotel Café’s page.
