Thank you, Mr. Hill!

douginnc

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Garner, NC (near Raleigh)
Scottywood (Garner, North Carolina) is pretty much in the middle of a uke desert. The nearest regular uke session is an hour away. Mim's is 3 hours away. The Ukulelel Academy in Wilmington is 2 hours away. I've not seen contributors here on the forum from the area. And, except for Jake's concert here (in our nicest and most expensive performance venue) a few years back, I've encountered no public playing.

So, I really straightened up when I encountered "ukulele" in the arts section of the local 8-page newspaper. There was going to be a free concert spotlighting 5 Canadian performing artists. One of them was James Hill!

Hot damn.

Now, I have to hand it to the performers. These are among the best that Canada has and they spend all day traveling to do 30 minutes each for 50 to 60 folks in a upgraded high school auditorium. All of them commented on the tough day, yet all gave very engaging performances.

James Hill was the fourth in the series. His pieces included "Man with a Love Song" and frailing (clawhammer) two fiddle tunes. The highlight of the evening was being in the middle of the third row and getting a practically private performance of his magical "Billy Jean".

Life is good.

I am very grateful, Mr. Hill!
 
Wow! Now if he'd just do that in Kent. He was in the UK this year and I couldn't make it. It can feel like a bit of a uke desert here, even surrounded by water. More of a uke savannah, I suppose...
 
Yep, James is amazingly talented, and I'm so glad I had to opportunity to see him perform at the Wine Country Uke Fest, and attend his workshop. My wife and I also chatted with him a bit, and he is a great guy, very genuine and unassuming, and has a great sense of humor.

This is a link to his latest album, "Man with a Love Song", full digital streaming from his website. Check it out!

http://jameshillmusic.com/man-with-a-love-song
 
I am in the jacksonville NC area but have kids in smithfield. We could get together sometime when I visit them if you want. ???
 
James is a thoroughly nice man! I ended up, with a bunch of other performers, playing 'Hey Jude' with him at the end of the Ukulele Festival of Great Britain, and then he joined some of us for an impromptu jam in the local pub until the early hours (along with the fabulous Ukulele Barrt, Paul Moore and the Winin' Boys). He's coming back to the UK very soon as part of the Mightly Uke movie tour, and there are plenty of gigs down South.
 
Wow, congrats! Class shows. Wish I could go to a James Hill concert.
 
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