Guitarist brings his Champagne style to local stages
Guitarist, songwriter and producer Champagne James Robertson is a newcomer to Hamilton and one of the city’s busiest musicians.
When Champagne James Robertson relocated to Hamilton from Toronto just over a year ago, this city’s music community instantly got stronger. He is a triple threat, as a guitarslinger of rare skill and range, an eloquent songwriter and a tasteful producer, and his talents have long been in demand in Toronto, Hamilton, Nashville, and beyond.
His current work priorities are four very musically different projects. These comprise the fiery rock ’n’ roll of Hammer heroes Junkhouse, the moody folk-rock of MOONRIIVR, the stylistically eclectic cover-band phenomenon Dwayne Gretzky, and the originals Robertson writes and performs with his instrumental trio. That list testifies to the versatility of his instrumental and compositional prowess.
Robertson cut his musical teeth on the Toronto scene from the early 2000s, first with the band Run With The Kittens, playing at the Cameron House every Tuesday for 10 years. (Champagne is a nickname bestowed by those bandmates, referencing his bubbly personality). He was also a member of Elvis Bossa Nova, and noted roots-rockers New Country Rehab, with whom he recorded two albums. He also played on albums by such artists as jazz artist Brandi Disterheft, honkytonk star Lindi Ortega, Treasa Levasseur, Quique Escamilla, Tim Armstrong of Rancid, Ferraro and more.
HCM recently chatted with Robertson over coffee at The Cannon on Ottawa Street North, not far from his east Hamilton residence. We learned that Hamilton has long been on his radar as a possible base, thanks to strong personal and musical connections developed over the past 15 years.
High on that list is close friend Colin Cripps (Blue Rodeo, Crash Vegas), with whom Robertson has made three records as surf instrumental combo C&C Surf Factory. “Colin’s DNA is Hamilton, so I’d always hear about it. I rather romanticized it and other blue-collar cities like Manchester and Detroit, all incredible music cities,” he notes.
“Colin has been such a mentor, teaching me so much about the sound of guitar in a classic sense. He’s such a thoughtful guy, and a deep well when it comes to guitar and to Hamilton, two things I’m curious about.”
Cripps (who now lives in Toronto but spent most of his life in Hamilton) tells HCM: “I’m thrilled James has chosen to live in Hamilton, as it’s always been a source for meeting great musicians, engineers, and producers. I know that from my own experiences growing up there. I think it’s been a perfect fit for him as it was for me.”
Other Hamilton-based collaborators like famed engineer/producer Mark Howard and Dwayne Gretzky co-leader Tyler Kyte further piqued Robertson’s interest. “I’ve been rather a drifter for many years, living in Nashville and Toronto, and, briefly, Austin and Stockholm,” he says. “I decided I wanted a place where I could stop moving, and here I am.”
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Underneath his amiable, laconic demeanour, large beaming smile, and ubiquitous trucker cap, Champagne James Robertson is a truly dedicated and disciplined musician, one always willing to take on new challenges and broaden his already wide creative repertoire.
Upon moving here, Robertson joined the ranks of a reunited Junkhouse, alongside fellow guitar ace Aaron Goldstein, keyboardist Jesse O’Brien, and original members Ray Farrugia, Russ Wilson and Tom Wilson. Some crowd-pleasing shows followed, just prior to the sad passing of Russ Wilson. Junkhouse continues to perform, with Tom’s son Thompson on bass and backing vocals, and Robertson loves this gig.
Robertson and Tom Wilson hit it off personally and musically, and have been co-writing songs they plan to record. “Working with Tom has doubled down on my experience of this city,” Robertson notes. “He is such a staple of Hamilton, and is wonderful at telling stories.”
MOONRIIVR, a project Robertson began with acclaimed Toronto singer/songwriter/producer Gavin Gardiner (Juno-nominees The Wooden Sky) now occupies a large chunk of his work schedule. Their debut album Vol. 1 came out in November 2023, and a warm response has already led to shows in Europe this summer.
But you can check them out locally, too. MOONRIIVR plays Supercrawl this Saturday at 5 p.m. on the North Stage.
The collaboration began in spring 2020, early pandemic days, when the pair hunkered down at the Robertson family farm north of Toronto. Armed with a vintage Tascam 388 tape recorder, mellotron and a nylon string guitar, they started writing and recording the material now found on Vol. 1.
“It was recorded almost exclusively to tape, and that’s a big part of our process,” says Robertson. “With an eight-track tape machine, you’re not working with a computer. You just need to capture what you’re hearing now. Gavin makes it very comfortable to be creative and take chances while capturing the sound. For instance, the song ‘Flowers to the Fire Escape’ was recorded in the basement of my farm at 4 a.m.”
Other songs were recorded at Gardiner’s Toronto home studio, All Day Coconut. Now a sought-after production team, Gardiner and Robertson work there with such clients as Ruben and The Dark and Peter Dreams (aka Peter Dreimanis of July Talk).
One long-running musical project that has exceeded Robertson’s initial expectations is his role as a core member of Dwayne Gretzky. “Who in their right mind thinks a cover band is going to last 12 years while continually getting more successful?”
The most popular cover band in Canada now, this Toronto/Hamilton collective has blossomed into a full-blown pop/rock/soul extravaganza, playing large theatres, festivals and high-flying corporate events across the country. Robertson terms it “a juggernaut of a band, but also a unicorn in that it gets opportunities no other band has. For instance, we did a corporate event with Gene Simmons (KISS) in Calgary a month ago. We’ve been up to the North Pole, and just played a series of shows at fancy hotels.”
Robertson doesn’t play every single DG concert, but relishes the estimated 45 shows a year with them. “Nick Rose and Tyler Kyte, the band leaders, work really hard to make sure the members of the band are happy. They are also so focused on new material, so it never gets old.”
Another project dear to Robertson’s heart is the all-instrumental trio he has led for 15 years. A long weekly residency at Toronto bar/music venue Reposado initially saw them reprise movie themes, with plenty of improvising, but he decided to set his sights higher. “When the pandemic lifted and they asked me back, I eventually agreed, but on condition I only do my own songs. My goal was to be able to play for three hours straight, no break and only my own material.”
He rose to that challenge, and now, at Reposado and a monthly Hamilton residency at The Capitol Bar, a cozy venue Robertson loves, his trio sticks to that all-originals mandate, though now with breaks. They generally play the fourth Sunday each month, depending on Robertson’s travel schedule.
Those Capitol shows routinely attract top Hamilton musicians, all revelling in witnessing a master craftsman at work in an intimate setting. With the sparse accompaniment of bass and drums, Robertson routinely dazzles with tunes ranging from ambient to jazz to twang to surf, played with subtle finesse.
Thankfully, Robertson has begun recording this material for posterity. “Last year, I released Prelude To Space, recorded during the pandemic with me playing all the instruments. I recorded three more albums in 2023, and I may distil that to one record and release it. Then we’ll go in to record more, and it will sound very different – fretless bass, guitar, percussion and flute.”
Though now less of a priority, Robertson stresses that C&C Surf Factory is ongoing. “We do two or three shows a year when it makes sense, usually around Christmas time, in Hamilton and Toronto.”
In turn, Cripps clearly relishes working with Robertson. “I’ve always been drawn to players who have not only technical skill but also a real voice of their own, which James has in endless amounts,” he tells HCM.
Helping Robertson thrive in such diverse settings are invaluable lessons he learned from a five-year stint in Nashville. Given that famed music city’s status as a real guitar town, invitations to play on records there are a major compliment.
“I started getting calls to play on records down there around 2013,” he recalls. “I moved there in January 2015 and in my first few weeks there I got to play on a record with Dave Cobb (the hot producer who has worked with Jason Isbell, Chris Stapleton and more). It was neat to experience him and the circle of musicians he was working with, all so devastatingly good.”
While based there, Robertson toured and collaborated with Lindi Ortega and toured with folk/roots group Birds of Chicago, headed by Montreal singer/songwriter Allison Russell. She’s now a Grammy-winning sensation as a solo artist, and her ascent has not surprised Robertson. “You could feel that there is no way this talent can be ignored,” he reflects. Other artists he toured with included U.S. country star Jim Lauderdale and Australian Americana artist Ruby Boots.
Robertson can vividly recall the day he left Nashville to move back to Toronto. “It was March 11, 2020, about two days before everything shut down. It was pretty crazy. I felt like Jeff Goldblum in a disaster movie, running out of my apartment, stacking my car full of stuff. I never went back to my Nashville apartment, but I have returned to work on some records. I love it there.”
His time there proved inspirational for Robertson.
“If you’re lucky, you get to experience true greatness. In my experience you don’t get that a lot in Toronto, you need to go to where it is happening. To me, Nashville was about watching the great people that have internalized what excellence is and are sharing that,” he says.
“You get your ass kicked a lot but then other times you get it, you see it. It’s like cooking. If you don’t know what it is meant to taste like, then you’ll never know if it’s any good. In those situations you can see it happening so you know what your destination is.”
Whatever his future destinations may be, look for now-proud Hamiltonian Champagne James Robertson to arrive there in compelling style.
