James Hill

Since the release of Playing it like it isn't. in 2002, James Hill has made it his mission to convince skeptics of the beauty, versatility, and appeal of the ukulele with original music that combines folk, old-time, gospel, and blues influences. The ukulele, embraced by mainstream media from Oprah to American Idol, has returned from pop culture exile and become a tonic for modern malaise the world over. Canadian Folk Music calls Hill "truly amazing. a serious virtuoso upon the instrument.

Since the release of Playing it like it isn't... in 2002, James Hill has made it his mission to convince skeptics of the beauty, versatility, and appeal of the ukulele with original music that combines folk, old-time, gospel, and blues influences. The ukulele, embraced by mainstream media from Oprah to American Idol, has returned from pop culture exile and become a tonic for modern malaise the world over.

Canadian Folk Music calls Hill "truly amazing... a serious virtuoso upon the instrument." The Honolulu Star-Bulletin calls Hill a “rare peer” of Hawaii’s premier ukulele players even though his hometown of Langley, British Columbia is nearly three thousand miles east of Honolulu. Ukulele instruction has been mandatory in many schools in Langley since the late 1970s and this is where Hill was introduced to the ukulele at the age of nine. During his teenage years he honed his skills as a key member of the renowned Langley Ukulele Ensemble under the direction of Peter Luongo.

True Love Don't Weep, his first full-length collaboration with cellist Anne Davison, features cello, banjo, bouzouki, fiddle, voices, winds, brass, bells, and music boxes entwined with ukuleles of all shapes and sizes. True Love Don't Weep isn't a campaign for the ukulele, just an offering of beautiful, sweetly sorrowful music.

Hill, also a passionate teacher, recently co-authored the Ukulele in the Classroom method book series with J. Chalmers Doane, the trail-blazing teacher who pioneered the use of ukuleles in Canadian schools. His music is heard frequently on CBC and NPR National radio. Hill has made TV appearances on The Tony Danza Show, MTV, Urban Rush, and Studio 4 with Fanny Keifer, and has shared billing with Jerry Douglas, Robert Cray, Lyle Lovett, and countless others.

Since turning heads with his early recordings, concerts tours throughout North America, Europe, and Asia have broadened Hill’s musical tastes and horizons. And while the sense of budding world-weariness that pervades True Love Don't Weep might seem contrary to the ukulele's reputation as a pocket-sized ray of sunshine, the album radiates a deep caring for music and a certain faith in the ukulele as a four-stringed life-raft for uncertain times.

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7/24/09: James Hill

Ukulele player James Hill champions the beauty, versatility, and appeal of his instrument with original music that combines folk, old-time, gospel, and blues influences.

James Hill

Ukulele player James Hill champions the beauty, versatility, and appeal of his instrument with original music that combines folk, old-time, gospel, and blues influences.

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