Jr. James & the Late Guitar

JR. JAMES & THE LATE GUITAR, an Asheville, NC-based group, is the musical persona of James Gardner and a host of collaborators, including partner-in-4/4-time Nancy Alenier and many other fine musicians.

JJTLG’s musical journey started in a previous millennium with songs scratched out on guitars and a four-track cassette recorder, and the journey continues with the same guitars and slightly updated equipment, er, outdated computers. "It's a loud and crazy world. Find a sound you love."

Career highlights include: having their cover of “I’m Into Something Good” selected by director Jason Reitman for the Juno soundtrack (Deluxe Edition); having their tribute to Pops Staples, “Love is Coming Back Again,” recorded by The Carpenter Ants; and having three tracks spun on BBC Radio 6 by the great selector and filmmaker Don Letts.

Late Guitar alumni include Aaron Price, Jeff Mettee, Mike Rhodes (Blue Rags), Bill Reynolds (Band of Horses), Tyler Ramsey (Band of Horses), John Winston Phillips (Jumpstarts), and Jeff Rowe (Paperboy).

Recording collaborators have included Hope Nicholls and Aaron Pitkin (Fetchin Bones), Jonathan Lloyd (Mandorico, Lloyd’s Rocksteady Revue), River Guerguerian (Free Planet Radio), Michito Sanchez (John Denver et al), Jesse Lauricella (Mandorico), Gracie Pearsall, and Samba Ngo.

JJ&TLG have shared the stage with The Figgs, Southern Culture on the Skids, Jonathan Richman, and many others.