Nathan James Books the Brooks

Nathan James. Photo by Milton Pitts.

With the festival season well underway it feels as if your weekends are crammed with more blues than the Pacific horizon and yet, about mid-week you notice they all but dry up. Oceanside guitarist Nathan James has a plan to alleviate your hump day blues. Together with a few local, and a few more ‘not so local’ blues friends, James has scheduled the International Rhythm and Blues Review at the Sunshine Brooks Theater in Oceanside. “This came together because there are a couple bands that will be in town for festivals in May,” Nathan said. “Gator By the Bay in San Diego on Mother’s Day weekend, and then the Doheny Blues Festival the following weekend.” So, naturally the International Rhythm and Blues Review should fit nicely into your calendar on Wednesday evening May 13^th with show time at 7:30PM.

James has front-loaded the show; along with his own Rhythm Scratchers he tapped his buddy, Carl Sonny Leyland.  A veteran bluesman, Leyland has pounded keys with everyone from Anson Funderburgh and James Cotton to Champion Jack Dupree and Kim Wilson. Also on the bill is Austin dynamo, Jai Malano. As a vocalist Malano is a lit fuse in both Rhythm and Blues and has chops that can rock the house or slow burn your blues to ash. And it just gets better, “A couple years ago I was invited to do a tour with the Swedish/Finnish band Trickbag, in Scandinavia.” Nathan said. “When I heard they were trying to tour here in hopes of getting on the Doheny Fest again, I wanted to try and help them out…like they did for me.”

And last but far from least is one of Brazil’s best, Igor Prado. Prado is currently topping the Living Blues Radio Charts at the No#1 position with his latest, ‘Way Down South.’ Nathan says Prado is “also in town for Doheny. I met him several years ago when his band came to the states. I was surprised and honored that he knew about my music and was a fan. We’ve all kept in touch in hopes of getting to play together.”

With hopes realized, James says he’s also excited about the venue.  “The Sunshine Brooks Theater is a really cool historic theater in downtown Oceanside where I’ve always wanted to put together shows. I finally got a hold of the people there and they gave me the date of Wednesday, May 13 as well as dates in June and July. The Brooks is in a great location with many great restaurants nearby and I recommend people come early to eat and then go to the theater for happy hour around 6:30pm before the show starts.”