2010 Blues Festival Headliner's Biographies

James Harman
James Harman found the blues early in life, both on black radio and on the street corner. He was born in 1946 in Anniston, Alabama and began piano lessons at age four. His father's Hohner harmonicas were in the piano bench, and he would play them after his piano lessons. He experimented with guitar, organ, bass and drums, performing solo and with family members at dances and country suppers.
James toured from 1964 to the end of the decade, playing radio station dances, fraternity parties, nightclubs, college concerts, after-hours joints, striptease parlors, bottle clubs (in which Harman would play all night, literally, performing six to eight sets of music) and honky tonks. When he wasn't headlining his own show, he was opening for and/or backing the top R&B artists of the day.
In 1970, at the advise of his fellow record collector friends, Canned Heat’s Bob Hite, Alan Wilson and Henry Vestine, Harman moved to southern California playing with and for the likes of Big Joe Turner, John Lee Hooker, Freddie King, Muddy Waters, Albert King, B.B. King, T-Bone Walker, Lloyd Glenn, Lowell Fulsom, Albert Collins, Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson, Johnny "Guitar" Watson, Phil Alvin, Bill Bateman, "Piano Gene" Taylor, David "Kid" Ramos, "Hollywood Fats" Mann, Jeff Turmes, Richard Innes, Stephen T. Hodges, Steve Mugalian and Paul Fasulo to name a few. In 1977 he formed a new band, with his old piano player, Gene Taylor, using his own name for the first time.
Icepick Productions, Harman's production company has generated more than a dozen releases to add to the fifteen he had released before using his own name. These twenty nine releases are the fruit of his forty plus year career, at this point. Seventeen James Harman's releases have been featured in films and television, and he has received 14 W.C. Handy Blues Award nominations, has been inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame and won the “Best Blues Album of the Year" award, from Canada's Real Blues Magazine.
 Harman has performed live shows in 18 countries, as many as 250 dates per year. He has staked his claim as an original, legitimate blues artist, musician and producer. As a vocalist, musician and songwriter, James Harman chronicles life with energy, wit and humor. He has a novelist's eye for detail and irony, and the result is well-conceived music that stands the test of time while telling his own stories. In all cases, he remains true to his credo: Strictly the Blues. James Harmon Saturday Night June 5th

Jim Byrnes
Jim Byrnes was born in St. Louis, Missouri .Starting piano at age five, by age thirteen, Jim was singing and playing blues guitar. His first professional gig was in the summer of 1964. Over the years, he has had the great good fortune to appear with a virtual who’s who of blues history. From Furry Lewis and Henry Townsend to Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Albert Collins, Taj Mahal, Robert Cray and so many others, Jim has been on the blues highway for 40 years.
Byrnes moved to Vancouver, BC in the mid-70s after years of drifting, working odd jobs and playing music. In 1981 he put together a band that became a staple of the local music scene. In 1986 the Jim Byrnes Band played 300 nights. Jim Byrnes’ fame as an actor has grown immeasurably from his too-numerous-to-mention TV roles, with highlights including Lifeguard in the CBS series Wiseguy, worldwide success in Highlander, and his nationally broadcast variety show, The Jim Byrnes Show.
Jim has proven that a serious car accident in 1972 has done anything but hinder him. Despite two swipes with death and some pretty hard knocks, Byrnes has still managed to rack up an enviable string of credits, both on and off-screen. Jim’s first love, however, is the blues. His evocative, smoky vocals are found in a truth that doesn’t come overnight. During the 80s, the Jim Byrnes Band released “Burnin’” on Polydor, followed in 1987 with “I’ve Turned My Nights into Days” and 1995’s Juno-Award winning “That River” on Stony Plain.
In Jim’s words, “Early bluesmen were really ‘songsters’ who interspersed their blues with spirituals, popular music, folk songs, anything to get the crowd to take note, and I suppose that’s how I cast myself when I began my career. Jim Byrnes plays 150 dates a year in North America and Europe. He will continue to bring his music to stages all over the world. 

Tim Hearsey
A world class blues musician, Tim is also a Juno Award winning songwriter. He tours regularly, playing with a wide variety of performers. He currently lives in Vancouver, Canada, where he operates a small recording studio, working with many local and international artists over 30 year career.

Tim Hearsey performance/recording credits have included  Taj Mahal , John Hammond , Lowell Fulson, Pinetop Perkins , Bo Diddley , Lazy Lester, Hubert Sumlin , Eddie ‘Cleanhead’ Vinson, Snooky Pryor , Big Joe Duskin , Cash Mccall, A.C. Reed , Fenton Robinson Guitar Shorty, Johnny Dyers , Mitch Kashmar , Liz Mccomb, Jeff ‘Little Bobby’ Simmons , Tad Robinson, Mark Dufresne, Jim Byrnes and Steve Kozak.

Willie MacCalder

Willie MacCalder, a founding member of the Powder Blues band, was born in Victoria and raised in Edmonton where he developed his craft by playing in a number of teen bands, until, in the mid sixties, he found great success with his own band, ‘Willie and the Walkers’. His trademark rollicking, boogie piano stylings and a laid back New Orleans vocal style reminiscent of Doctor John have won him a number of ‘music poll awards’ and contribute greatly to the Powder Blues instantly identifiable sound.

Steve Kozak

Steve began playing guitar and singing at age sixteen and his passion for the Blues flourished after meeting with the legendary Muddy Waters in May of 1977 where  his musical future as a Bluesman was sealed. Steve  is a mainstay on the Vancouver scene as a guitarist, band leader, singer, songwriter, and tireless cheerleader and promoter of Blues and Roots music.  His Saturday Afternoon Session at The Cottage Bistro on Main Street and the Thursday Night Blues Party and Jam Session at Vancouver’s Home of the Blues, the renowned Yale Hotel is where Steve has encouraged younger Blues artists to develop their skills. His video Blues show, Steve Kozak’s Video Blues Review, can be seen on his website.