James Coates with Friends at the Spanish Ballroom

5pm doors, 6pm show  https://www.mcmenamins.com/events/274849-erina-mclaren

All ages welcome

About James Coates

PNW Roots & Americana

Soulful Americana — it evokes images of back porch ballads, foot-stomping anthems and everything in between. It’s also the chosen genre of James Coates, a 15-year traveler of the Northwest’s sprawling music scene who’s spent a career struggling to define himself.

James didn’t choose music — after learning guitar from his father at ten, some would say it chose him. Influences came from everywhere, but the ones that stuck were legendary songwriters like Bob Dylan and Tom Petty as well as the unstoppable backbeat of Motown Records.

Seattle Weekly mused about Coates that he, “sounds like Bob Dylan would if Dylan could actually sing, while lyrically he veers closer to Springsteen territory.” This notion would be confirmed by DJ Greg Vandy through airplay on KEXP’s Roadhouse, a show dedicated to the region’s finest roots music.