James recently performed at the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and at the University of N.C. in Chapel Hill as part of Professor Cece Conway’s presentation on “African Roots of the Appalachian Banjo.”  James sang and played traditional Appalachian ballads and tunes on fiddle and banjo as well as joining African griot Cheick Hamala Diabate in a set of traditional African tunes and songs.  This show had previously been featured at the Black Music Conference in Chicago, with Mike Seeger.  In Chicago, James also played banjo and guitar for National Heritage award winner Joe Thompson, an African-American fiddler from Mebane, N.C.

 Recently, James has also been part of Stephen Wade’s “In Sacred Trust” with Stephen, Mike Craver (of the Red Clay Ramblers) and Zan McLeod.  “In Sacred Trust”, focusing on the life and music of the late great Hobart Smith, was presented in Chicago, in Hobart Smith’s hometown of Saltville, Virginia, for two nights at the Birchmere in Washington, DC, and on the main stage Saturday night at the 2007 Philadelphia Folk Festival.

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