James Armstrong

James Armstrong was born April 22, 1957 in Los Angeles, California.

Armstrong's father was a jazz guitarist and his mother a blues singer. Having learned the guitar at a young age, Armstrong formed his first band at school, and was touring the United States in his late teens. Inspired by Albert King and Robert Cray, his musical education included backing musicians such as Albert Collins, Big Joe Turner and Smokey Wilson. Armstrong relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area and, in 1995, released his debut album, "Sleeping with a Stranger" on Hightone Records.

In April 1997, Armstrong was almost stabbed to death by an intruder at his home. The shoulder injury necessitated months of rehabilitation, which still left Armstrong with limited guitar playing ability in his left hand. He adjusted his playing style, hired a lead guitar player, and found that playing slide guitar helped to slowly recover his dexterity. Hightone released his second album, "Dark Night" in 1998. The album track, "Bank of Love", was used in the films "Hear No Evil" and "The Florentine". He released one more album for Hightone ("Got It Goin' On" before a long recording hiatus that ended when he joined the Catfood Records roster.

Catfood issued "Blues At The Border" in 2011, followed by "Guitar Angels" (2014) and "Blues Been Good To Me" (2017). The latter was ranked #9 on Blues Critic's "Best Of 2017" list for "Retro-Soul/Soul Blues Albums".

Album Discography

"Sleeping With A Stranger" (Hightone 1995)

Sleeping With A Stranger 3:05
From Time To Time 3:18
Hard, Hard Blues 4:39
Midnight Again 3:41
Baby's Catwalkin' 3:58
The Devil's Livin' Here 4:47
Don't Kiss And Tell 4:44
Wrong Address 3:38
Six Bar City 3:28
Away From Home 4:03
That Kind Of Feeling 3:51
Devil's Moon 4:34

"Dark Night" (Hightone 1998)

1 Dark Night
2 Too Many Misses For Me
3 Slender Man Blues
4 Trouble On The Home Front
5 Lil' James
6 Can't Get Off Your Love (Heaven Help Me)
7 Bank Of Love
8 What I Would Do (For Your Love)
9 Witchin' Moon
10 Here For The Music
11 Standing In Your Way
12 Just In Case

"Got It Goin' On" (Hightone 2000)

1 Got It Goin' On
2 Pennies And Picks
3 Another Dream
4 2 Sides
5 Mr. B's
6 Love Will Make You Do Wrong
7 Beat Up By Love
8 Shut My Eyes
9 Likes Her Lovin'
10 Lucky Guy
11 I'll Learn Some Time

"Blues At The Border" (Catfood 2011)

1 Everything Good to Ya (Ain't Always Good for Ya)
2 Somebody Got to Pay
3 Baby Can You Hear Me?
4 Blues at the Border
5 Devil's Candy
6 Nothing Left to Say
7 High Maintenance Woman
8 Good Man Bad Thing
9 Young Man with the Blues
10 Brand New Man
11 Long Black Car

"Guitar Angels" (Catfood 2014)

1 Grandma's Got A New Friend
2 Healing Time
3 Take It To The Limit
4 Guitar Angels
5 Moving To Nashville
6 Goodbye Kiss
7 Bank Of love
8 Saturday Night Women
9 Blues Ain't Nothin'
10 Runaway Train
11 Guitar Angel (Radio Version)

"Blues Been Good To Me" (Catfood 2017)

1 Blues Been Good To Me
2 Second Time Around
3 Addicted To Love
4 Early Grave
5 Old Man In The Morning (Young Man At Night)
6 Change In The Weather
7 How Sweet It Is To Be Loved By You
8 Ain't Another Love Song
9 Sleeping With A Stranger
10 Shot Gun Wedding