Jeffrey James performing Live in the Lair on Max Ink Radio

Jeffrey James is an award-winning singer-songwriter known for his adventurous world tours and uplifting performances.

James launched the Jeffrey James show in 2013 and since released three studio albums and two live albums,

a graduate of the University of Wisconsin and known for making films around the world and in the studio with us tonight,

Jeffrey James.

Welcome to Mexico Radio.

Thank you. Thank you so much for having me here.

It's great to be back with Terry and Jimmy and Brock are with you for the first time. This is great.

For the first time, lots of fun. Yeah, I don't think I've interviewed Jeffrey.

Oh, you're going to love this. I've had the opportunity.

But I've been chasing Jeffrey for a while to get him on a show.

I am. You know, I do what I got to do.

And luckily Jeffrey said, yes, so here he is.

I'm so happy about it.

We said the last time you saw, I was like farm eat or something like that.

We think that might have been.

I was literally biking around.

And it was pouring rain trying to sell a ticket last minute.

I said, oh, look in the middle of the parking lot.

Hey, T-bar.

I know. And it was in East Troy at Alpine Valley.

When a great show.

It was amazing. It really was.

And I just love that I ran into you there.

But it's been too long, so I'm so happy to welcome you.

Thank you. Yeah.

Jeffrey, I just found out that he worked at Monty's Blue Plate for years,

which is one of our favorite restaurants on the East Side of Madison.

But let's get a little backstory.

We know about Monty's now.

But how did you start playing music?

I mean, what has been your journey?

Yeah, so I don't think I've ever told this story before, but funny enough,

I was really into basketball and sports in junior high.

And injured my ankle pretty bad playing basketball.

And my dad had just bought a guitar.

So I thought it would be cool to, you know, strum it and play around.

And then there's a lot of young kids.

You just kind of fall in love.

You start trying to learn tabs and covers of your favorite band.

And then all of a sudden, I'm jamming with my friends in high school.

And then, you know, two years later, I'm writing music and playing the talent shows

and just kind of getting after it.

What were you listening to?

What music were you listening to that you was trying to play on the guitar?

Yeah, those early days.

Probably like Jack Johnson.

He's always a big inspiration.

I was a big date, Matthews fan of course.

In high school.

Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of other music too.

Did your dad play guitar?

Did he end up playing the guitar as well?

You know, it didn't stick with him.

Oh my god.

That guitar became my guitar.

That's awesome.

That's what I suspected.

The guitar did not go to waste.

Oh, very, yeah. Thanks dad.

Oh my goodness.

We mentioned when introducing you that you went to UW.

You have kind of a unique degree.

Yeah.

Tell us about this.

Yeah, I had been touring for five years about 2015 to 2019.

I honestly was kind of burnt out and I said,

I need some structure.

It would be cool to finish my bachelor's degree, you know.

But I found this program called the Summer Intensive Portuguese Institute.

And, you know, UW Madison is amazing.

They have dozens of languages,

rare languages every summer for eight weeks.

And I signed up and got, they let me in as a special student.

And I was thrown into deep water.

I shouldn't say that.

I was Spanish growing up like a lot of us too.

Yeah.

And I was still touring full time that summer.

So I was pulling 60 to 80 hour weeks.

Oh my dear.

And my brain.

But it was an amazing experience that led me to get accepted into UW Madison

as a returning adult student in a special program called Badger Ready.

So much love to all of them.

And yeah, here I am.

You've put it kind of all together because you still travel a lot.

But then the music is part of your travels.

How does that work for you?

Absolutely. Yeah. It's always been a thing.

Even before my touring days,

like my first trip was to New Zealand and Australia.

I just brought a backpack and my guitar.

It's actually where I really learn my performing chops.

You know, street busking.

You really have to shout out to Sam Ness.

Yeah, don't kidding.

You really have to learn how to project and just be confident.

And it just, that trip was hard, but by the end of it,

I was like, I can perform, I think, you know.

You know, I think for like touring or especially busking,

Sam Ness could write a book about it.

Oh, yeah.

Well, he's been arrested.

You know, all the crazy things that come along with it.

Have you been arrested?

I have not.

That's a good thing.

Game here, Jeffrey.

You're not run, but just kind of pack up quickly in kids.

Yeah.

Where some, there's like a school group and they started rolling coins at me.

I just have this memory in Brisbane, Australia.

Oh.

So it's like, do I, do I grab the money?

Do I run?

You know, I've never told them.

That's a great story.

You'll never have press like getting arrested.

Yeah, that's very true.

Let's do it for fun someday.

I'll be fine.

Tell us about the Jeffrey James show.

Did you play with you?

Yeah, the way the show has worked is it's always just been different musicians.

I've had different bands all around the world, like I probably the most.

The longest time was with a band in Hawaii.

And they started just kind of, they became like the house band for the festival scene out there.

And I was traveling with Maggie Poff and just as a duo for a long time.

And then I met the lovely Ethry Fields who is in Wisconsin here.

And she's the longest I've been playing music with with another beautiful soul.

So we've been playing, I mean, you take COVID out of there.

But I mean, if you add it in, it was like, we've been playing together for eight years.

Is she hearing Madison?

Yeah, she's just North Madison, I think.

But yeah, her music's based out of Madison.

And yeah, we finally, finally asked her to be on a studio album with me.

So I'm glad to share that she's on the latest project.

Oh, that's so good.

Well, let's get to some live music in the layer with Jeffrey James presented by the Aaron Weber group.

The first song you have for us tonight is called Two Bucks.

Is this dreaming about money or deer?

That's a great question.

That's a very Wisconsin question.

It was either that or a better off dad where I want my two dollars.

I had a dream actually.

I was living in Breckenridge, Colorado.

I had a band there actually.

And that was early on 2014, 2015.

And out of the stream, all my favorite musicians were playing on this mountain.

And I went out and just started singing with them.

And so I welcomed, I thought, oh, it'd be cool to just, you know, if you're doing it, you're doing it.

You know, they're singing you can sing.

It kind of, it just became a throwaway song.

And my friend at the time heard it said, no, I think it was warming up before it shows it.

No, you need to play that.

It shows as good as it is it.

And then it kind of became one of the fan favorites.

So very cool.

You never know with songs.

That's so great.

And yeah, of course at the time being a, being a, not a starving artist, but one without money.

Like, what do you really need?

You know, you see, I thought you were going to say you're in the mountains and you saw some deer.

That would be cool.

That happened a lot as well.

Not for this particular song, but I can't wait to hear it.

I don't think I've heard this one before, Jeffrey.

It's a great song.

844-967-2789-844-964 party.

Call or text to your questions right now for Jeffrey in the Civic Media app.

You're live in the layer with Jeffrey James Show on Maxine Gradio.

Two bucks, a 17 cents is all I need.

With you by my side, I gladly stand in the cold.

And it's negative 22 degrees.

Please give me some of these.

Oh yeah, this is everything you need.

It was not enough.

It was too much air, but now you've got the perfect ocean.

No supposed to desire…

The body…

they'll ever take now above the flame.

Tell me now please think hard.

Will do you really need?

I climbed a mountain at the top.

I met a bear, a guru and a king.

They were all singing to sing.

Funny I was singing the same.

Hold us all and sing along.

This is everything in need.

It was not enough.

It was too much.

Yeah, but now you've got a perfect ocean.

Should desire…

the body…

they'll ever take now above the flame.

Tell me now please think hard.

Will do you?

Will do you really need?

Oh yeah…

ShANA LIVE.

Into the Dark Nishanalai.

Into the Dark Nishanalai.

Into the Dark Nishanalai.

Into the Dark Nishanalai!

Into the Dark Nishanalai!

Into the Dark Nishanalai!

Into the Dark Nishanalai!

Into the Dark Nishanalai!

Into the Dark Nishanalai began Metalwood.

Into the Dark Nishanalai!

Into the Dark Nishanalai!

Very nice.

Jeffrey James Show.

Two bucks in the air.

Two bucks there it is.

You already gave us our money worth tonight, Jeffrey.

Thank you so much, Jimmy.

I love this.

It feels good to be here.

So really, if you don't know the view of the state street out the windows, really cool.

Yes.

Green Bay.

And everybody listening, we are in the Madison studio this evening.

Jeffrey, you recently toured in Brazil and the show is famous for making videos around

the world.

And one of them won video of the year for the Madison music area music awards in 2020.

Tell us about traveling the world, playing your music.

I heard you were playing on a tropical island in Brazil.

Yeah, absolutely.

Well, to start with the award, two bucks is actually the song that won video of the

year.

And a coffee shop.

Well, actually all around in a place called a booth in Bali, Indonesia.

Wow.

And funny story for that was my first night in Indonesia.

I was super jet lag.

And I walked down the street and I heard this music coming from like a rooftop.

And I followed these stairs up and it was a coffee shop called Kahiang, which means Harmony

in their language, overlooking kind of the whole town, the main street.

And I just right away, I was like, this is on my street.

I'm going to come back tomorrow.

And I fix their guitar with the broken string.

And that was the first trip.

I left my guitar in Hawaii after tour and said, I'm done.

I'm burnt out.

I'm going to go on vacation.

Of course, I was playing guitar the whole time.

Oh, that is so good.

Oh, there he is.

A friend of the guy from local named Nomad Ang.

He goes by.

And he's like, yeah, I've shot video on National Geographic.

I'd love to just shoot a music video for you for free.

I like literally.

That's how it went.

And I guess the rest is history now.

Wow.

Yeah, that's a story about Bali.

I know.

I'd love to get back there.

It's just so far away.

But Brazil had the chance to make it down there as you know from earlier.

If you were listening, I studied Portuguese intensively at UW here.

And I always dreamed of going.

And there's this island called Florenopolis.

And it takes forever to get there.

But they have like 40 to 60 different beaches.

It's all like it's hard to explain because it's a long skinny island.

Is it a coast?

Yeah, it's on the Atlantic coast.

Okay.

And it's pretty far from everything.

But it's really safe there.

It's really beautiful.

It's actually an old Aesorian fisherman town.

So like where I stay is like there's guys literally just fishing boats coming in and out and then surfers.

And obviously a lot of reggae artists.

It's a big, big reggae scene down there.

But really music of all kind.

And yeah, I met a guy on the street with a nice guitar case.

I said, hey, hey, I'm my broken Portuguese.

You know, you're an artist.

It's a dream of mine to play a show here.

He's like, actually, I feel crazy saying this.

But I'm playing a show in two days.

And the owner asked me who was coming.

And I said, well, I'm bringing a friend, but he didn't know who yet.

He just had a strong feeling on your story.

He had a strong feeling that someone else is in a play with him.

And the venue turned to be turned out to be one of the coolest venues.

I have a hands down.

I've ever played.

It's like a wedding venue overlooking the island.

And yeah, so this guy's name is Mauro Albert.

And he happened to be.

He's one of the best minutia gypsy jazz guitars in all of Brazil.

Wow.

And yeah, I went back.

You know, you're in a half later and just played it sat in and his jazz residency last month.

What an honor.

I mean, and how cool.

The tour was like a pretty packed show too, right?

Yeah, well, you know, it actually wasn't it.

But just the experience like, I mean, November's the slowest.

I was going the slow season.

I'm sure it was.

Yeah, right.

Yeah, cheaper.

Yeah, exactly.

But we're really good friends of this day.

So.

When you won your mama in 2020, that was during Kovah, of course.

Where were you when you found out that you won a mama?

Yeah, I was just sitting at home.

I was doing online school.

And I was shocked, you know, I learned a bunch of things.

I love what mama does.

I just thought maybe I wouldn't ever win anything.

And that was okay.

And so I kind of made peace with it.

And it was just so cool to be like, wait, whoa.

And to tell this guy, I still have Mike Nomadang's award in my closet.

I just got to go back to Bali.

Were you part of that collaboration with Dana Perry all come out of this?

I regret I did not.

She asked me to and I, you know, I don't have a home studio.

But I love that song.

Yeah.

And that's my favorite album.

Oh.

Yeah.

Wow.

I'm just, I guess, enthralled by the idea of you just meeting people.

So almost randomly, but yet it's almost like you said about the guy that said, oh, I'll play a show with somebody.

Yeah.

And it happens.

It's almost like they're manifesting it.

You're manifesting it.

And it's happening.

I mean, did you ever get scared or do you just do it?

You just go and meet these people and do it.

It's such a great question.

And immediately I think I thought a lot of times before I leave, especially when I was doing 100 shows a year, 150 shows a year.

I say, you know, I felt like I was going to die before it left.

So yes, I got scared.

But I think it's human when you do long international trips, like, you know, what if something happens or it's some of it's just our mental health as artists.

You know, we can be very neurotic.

But yeah, absolutely, even this last trip to Brazil, I'm like, I, it doesn't make sense to go so far away for just two, you know, just two weeks.

I could just go somewhere like I almost went to San Diego, for example.

Oh, wow.

You know, nowhere's like, like Florida, like Florida, but they call it.

No, it's like free, but and and just I have friends there now.

Yeah.

And I have places like, oh, just like when you go on vacation every year to, you know, Door County, you, the owner of your favorite restaurant's happy to see you.

And it happens to be for me that that's on the other side of the world.

I bet the food is amazing too.

Oh, man.

Best seafood ever.

Yeah.

Wow.

Well, let's get back to live music and the layer with Jeffrey James presented by the Aaron Weber group.

The next song you have for us tonight, it's not yet released.

And it's called already there.

Is this where you want to be?

Yeah, it's about, it's, it's a feeling, okay, we all have what we want in life.

I want to be, someone wants to be a millionaire.

Someone wants to buy that house in their favorite look.

You know, they can't, I'll make it in life when I do this.

Right.

You wrote a song thinking that you're already there.

What would it feel like if I, you know, was living my dream and put that feeling in a song

or at least speak about it, you know, so it can become a little more real.

So it's unreleased.

I was like, I don't think I was like, you know what?

I'm going to play this new one.

It's dedicated to my, to my good friend, Pasalili.

Excellent.

Let's check it out right now.

There is the Jeffrey James show live in a layer presented by the Aaron Weber group.

So I'm maxing on civic media.

What if everything worked out just like you dreamed it would.

It's time you start thinking that way.

Oh, you're by my side on this beautiful day.

The water is warm.

There at my feet as I can see.

Oh, the love I deserve is life.

No longer a dream and I'm already there.

And I'm already there.

And I'm already there.

And I'm already there.

Oh, yeah.

No rising up.

It's hard air balloon as the sun comes up.

On this beautiful earth, not a word spoken.

The pieces profound.

There's just love all around.

No algorithm controlling our minds.

We're just taking our time.

And I'm already there.

And I'm already there.

And I'm already there.

And I'm already there.

And I'm already there.

And I'm already there.

And I'm already there.

And I'm already there.

Beautiful song.

I love it.

You know, it's kind of like knowing what you have

and just going kind of for it.

I want a video for this song now.

I'm with you.

I could see all these things as you were singing.

Hopefully, it's on the list.

Can I request the place where you go?

Sure.

Iceland.

I want to see that video in Iceland.

I have performed in Iceland.

Oh, you have where?

And I did a house show.

Oh, nice.

But you are incredible.

Seriously.

What's the oddest destination you've ever gone to?

To play a show or just to go to experience?

Oh, gosh.

I love travel.

So I love this type of question.

Yeah, that's such a great question.

You know, it comes to mind.

It's a house show in Berlin.

Oh.

And it just, it was like what you would maybe American

would think about Berlin.

You know, it was like some weird neighborhood.

And it was all kind of Soviet block houses.

And you know, some end buildings we get in is late.

And everyone in the house was smoking cigarettes.

Like, James was cigarettes.

And they all like gathered around me.

And we just sang in the living room for hours.

And there's refugees there.

I mean, it was a just total one of those you're on tour.

And some says, come over and play.

Yeah.

Come over and sing and jam.

And as you're going, you're kind of like, is this, is this safe?

Yeah.

Look at this guy.

He's cool, right?

You know, he starts second guessing yourself.

So we, back in Brazil, we were talking about the seafood,

which is obvious.

But as far as food on the road, because when we travel,

we love to eat new food.

Yeah.

Where's the, like, the best dinner that you've had,

or the best type, or the best type of food?

That's such a great question.

You know, I spent, as I said, I had a band in Hawaii.

I spent a lot of time there.

And there's traditional Hawaiian food, like pork la la.

Which spam.

Yeah.

Spam and eggs.

Or spam a subi.

They sell it 7-11.

Yeah.

Like, they're snacked.

There's like rice, spam wrapped in seaweed.

Spam.

Here's all the gas station.

Spam popsicles too.

Oh, God.

It's like a spam sushi or something.

Oh, my goodness.

Is Hawaii really like that?

It really is.

Yeah.

I believe it's due to the war.

It just stuck around out there.

Yeah.

They got addicted to spam.

Wow.

The food in Brazil is, you know, eating acai, fresh acai,

that comes right from the Amazon,

is for breakfast every morning with all their tropical fruits,

like dragon fruits.

And just having that every morning,

and then they have this drink there.

It's called Calda Jicana, which is fresh sugar cane juice.

Oh, wow.

And they take sugar cane and they put it through a pretty hard

core machine with this piece of lime.

And it's so good.

It's like candy juice.

So.

Candy juice.

I love it.

Now, you've been just all over the world,

and you explore these cultures, right?

You know, what do you take away from that?

What do you see like in common with all these people?

Because you've met so many people around the world.

Yeah.

But there are people in the end.

What do you take away from all your travels?

Yeah.

I think what comes to mind is the owner of that coffee shop

and in Bali.

And, you know, what some of the people with the less,

with the least material things can not only be more hospitable,

but they can give more than anyone else.

And I think one thing in common is just kindness.

You know, I mean, you really, you show up.

You're really an ambassador to your country.

And what, you know, people always ask me what I think

of the president or this or that wherever I go.

And I think it's just interesting that even if you're just out

there for fun or on tour that you're really going to connect

with people and you're going to see really what the real world

is like.

You're going to get your own download of what's going on.

And it totally, like that tripped in Indonesia,

totally changed how I see a lot of things.

And I could talk about it forever.

But I mean, really just how kind people are.

And like even in Brazil, I got sick.

And the young woman at the hotel desk, like it was during carnival.

And it was sold out hotel.

And she found a way for me to stay there.

And she was like an angel.

And I mean, she didn't ask for money.

There was nothing other than just, I want to help this person.

And there's good people wherever you go.

And you know, oftentimes what we see and read is maybe just

kind of isolated places.

And maybe that there's really amazing people everywhere.

You just got to find them.

Yeah.

And you do.

He said the more you travel, the less you know.

So true.

Let's get back to live music and then layer with Jeffrey Caves

presented by the Aaron Weber group.

The next song you have for us tonight is part of the Brazil Sessions.

It's called Shine.

What I hacked into this beach in the heart of Brazil, and no one was around.

So I got out like a tarry, and then all else.

All these people gathered right, and I didn't know what to do.

So I kept it true between me and the ocean too.

And why don't you shine like the sun?

Why don't you roll like the sea?

I won't stop hiding in your mind, and get rid of it all the time.

And I'm going to get rid of it all the time.

Singing.

And then I met this girl.

She was dancing so freely, standing in front of the speakers.

Oh, she turned and walked to me and said, you know I could have it all.

I'd rather live by the sea, surf and live and love and laugh and give.

And choosing to be carefree, and why don't you shine like the sun?

Why don't you roll like the sea?

I won't stop hiding in your mind, and get rid of it all the time.

And I'm going to get rid of it all the time.

Singing.

Why don't you shine like the sun?

Why don't you roll like the sea?

I won't stop hiding in your mind, and get rid of it all the time.

And then I'm going to get rid of it all the time.

Oh, very nice.

Jeffrey James, show live and layer here on Max Inquiry.

You'll presented by the lead, presented by the Aaron Weber group,

powered by Compass.

Goodbye or sell your next home right now.

It moved to Madison.com.

Max Inquiry was also sponsored by the Lazy Old Flounge here in Madison.

I had dinner the other night.

It was fantastic.

I think I had the game day specials going on too, where the home team scores a touchdown

or something like that.

You get some free jello shots.

It's pretty cool.

Plus they got bucket specials.

Jersey Raffle, B Raffle had half time.

It all happens at the Lazy Old Flounge on Game Day.

Get more information and see the full menu at lazy oldflounge.com.

More with Jeffrey James, show next live and layer on Max Inquiry.

Brought brandy cow chips.

In great local music.

This is Max Inquiry.

We are local music.

How are you doing, rocker?

Everybody okay?

All right.

You're back.

They're into a traveling conversation.

I mean, this has been awesome.

I'm just talking about travels and the songs and the people that come out of it.

Okay, so this is the strangest thing that I did not know about you.

You once pursued a career as a snowboard instructor.

Where does this fit into your story?

Oh, that was my first life I get.

What?

And it wasn't like anywhere normal.

It was like, like, to hell.

Yeah, yeah.

Wow.

You know, I started teaching at Devil's head ski resort when I was 60.

I'm kidding.

Yeah.

Devil's head you're a mat or a hearing.

Yeah.

But my best friend who lived next sort of me shout out to Rick.

Rick Kingle, the ricksta.

We, we did a trip up to the UP to get our level one.

So there's like, we got professionally certified.

So we were like, saw it after by a few different places.

We did a, I did a semester UW lacrosse and much of my mother's this man.

I moved out to California about a one way ticket with my best friend and worked for, you know,

Booth Creek.

Well, I worked at North Star, but it turned.

It was bought by Vail.

That's why I ended up in Breckin Rouge actually.

My last year as a professional snowboard instructor at Breck was like my first band.

And we were playing like the gold mine saloon.

We had a residency at a local bar.

And it was, Rick was in the bay.

He played harmonica.

It was just fun.

Oh my gosh.

Yeah, it's just, you just roll with what you have.

The stuff you just don't know about people until you get the chance to ask.

You still, you still born today or?

You know, my body's ruined.

No, it's funny.

They all said you can't jump off of mountains and not a half pipes forever.

And you know what?

That's true.

At least for me.

And then snowboarding took you around the world as well, right?

Absolutely.

Actually helped my, I had a Brazilian client, a whole family who I fell in love with.

And they flew me around.

And so I started learning Portuguese long before the fact just to try to, you know, it's part of a business.

Teaching and, and you know, going out to dinner with them and whatnot.

And so, yeah, I guess kind of led me to Brazil as well.

And then I used the framework I had from, from snowboarding and all my connections between here and like Tahoe.

So like here in Colorado, Utah, and California.

And that's what I built my tours around.

So I had friends to stay with, even though I was just playing restaurants or bars or whatever.

It just kind of worked out for me.

That's what they call double dipping right there.

And it's perfect.

Yeah, it really is.

So where are you going next?

Can you tell us or do you know?

I'm working on it, but no, I'm just trying to get through the holidays.

Got it.

You know, as our, yes.

Trying to put for yourself, do you do this on your own?

You don't use an agent, right?

No, yeah.

I do everything by myself.

I did have like a friend who connected as an Austrian tour manager for two tours, shout out to Valerie.

And yeah, I had, we had a manager for a few tours Hawaii based, but no, the majority of it's just all been me.

So.

Well, you're doing it.

Thank you.

Yeah.

I'm just so glad, you know, before, as you know, COVID really changed independent music scene.

And just to be able to do it the way we did before, I'm so thankful for that.

It still feels like it's coming back.

Yeah.

Yeah, a lot of new venues, a lot of new musicians.

Well, let's get back to live music in a layer with Jeffrey James presented by the Aaron Weber group.

The next song you have for us tonight.

It's called Cobblestone Streets.

It was written in Lisbon, Portugal.

What inspired the song?

Yeah.

Funny enough, I moved there to write the everywhere album.

I gave myself one month and all I got was one song.

And here's the Brazil thing again.

I got this, this drummer, he was just playing a home, you know, busking.

And he was like, come on, man, you got to, you got to put more energy into it.

Like really, you know, we're singing on the main promenade for the tourists.

And so it started to rain.

And it just that smell of.

And by the ocean, it's cleaning all the cobblestones.

And I just started jamming and singing.

And it just, it turned into a song.

That's outstanding.

That's human right now.

Yes.

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Jeffrey James Show live in the layer.

Music

Never thought I'd be here.

In all these years and I'm singing the song that

I know.

It's on my chair.

It's like this is it.

This is all we have in this is it.

This is all we need.

And it's funny how.

When you got none, you're all alone.

It's funny how.

When you find one, they all want something as a promenade reason.

A perfect time and every season.

You know it can be.

Whatever you want it to win.

Like the way the rain cleans.

It's cobblestone streets and I like the way you hold me close.

Between the sheets of mine.

It's on my chair.

It's like this is it.

This is all we have in this is it.

This is all we need.

And it's funny how.

When you find one, they all want something as a promenade reason.

You know it can be.

Like the way the rain cleans.

It's cobblestone streets and I like the way you hold me close.

Between the sheets of mine.

It's on my chair.

This is it.

I like that song.

Are you watching when he plays the smile on his face?

It makes you smile.

It's my happy play.

I'm a big travel buff and Hawaii is one of my destinations.

But it says here you were there and you play a lot of is it Kava bars?

Yeah, Kava what is Kava?

Yeah, Kava is it's a root that grows on the ground for seven years and they dry it in the sun.

And they drink it ceremonially and socially and greater Polynesia like in Fiji every day.

Hawaii is it's not as popular.

Is it fermented?

No, it's just a root that's like a powder you mix it with water.

And then you drink it out of coconut shells.

And the more you drink, the better you feel.

It has a euphoric kind of sense to it.

It does.

It has euphoric and you know it's kind of similar to alcohol but you never get drunk or hung over.

And it's natural.

It makes you more social and it's really cool.

And then in ancient Hawaii they used to use ceremonies for kings and writing agreements

because it's said to be like a truth serum.

Interesting.

That's for what you will.

You know, but so I would tour Kava bars and they were the hangout spots.

I bet.

There's not a lot of dancing or clubs or music on Hawaii because you need a special permit.

You need a permit to have people even allowed to dance and like Mauro County.

And I'm not sure about how all that's changed.

But what works there is they just have Kava bars like open air and you put in a big coconut

like a big carrier and then everyone just serves it and it's and it really is great with music.

Is there any Kava bars here in Madison or around the state of Wisconsin?

Yeah.

So the first one ever opened up in Madison actually and it's in the process of moving.

But yeah, it's called rooted in sanity and I was a music coordinator there this summer

and that's where I met my friend Pasalili from Tonga and his dad girls Kava.

No way.

I used to do her Kava bars in Hawaii and no one knows what that is.

And so we're like best friends now and yeah, I wrote already there at the Kava bar.

I got to find that place and try it.

It's right over on Atwood right now.

Have you tried it?

At the corner.

Yeah.

We were over there.

Is it Hannah?

Yeah, Hannah's owner.

She's great.

And yeah, we had some Kava.

It was interesting.

It's like a sort of coffee like maybe.

Yeah, it doesn't taste so great.

I'll be honest.

Yeah, it's in the pepper family.

So kind of.

And that's your tongue and mouth.

Oh, this is interesting.

Yeah, it's interesting.

Okay.

Wait a second.

Wait a second.

Wait a second.

I'm just trying.

I don't know what to say.

Oh, man, that's funny.

Okay.

So you are making an appearance coming up right?

Yes.

Cargo coffee.

East in Madison.

What is that show going to be like?

Honestly, playing with E3 is just magical.

We've been doing it for eight years.

And she actually learned all the parts to all my songs.

And so now I, she's saying,

I'm going to play with you.

That's great.

Okay.

But this isn't until Friday, February 28th.

So everybody write it down, save the date.

And again, at Cargo Coffee East in Madison.

What is that show going to be like?

Honestly, playing with E3 is just magical.

And she's just playing with her songs.

And so now I, she sings harmonies.

She sings all the harmonies like at Cobblestone Streets

and two bucks, all the songs.

And plays violin.

And she's, I call her human sparkler.

She's just one of those.

I love that.

She's just a light ray.

I mean, I don't know how to explain it.

And lucky enough that she's put up with me through the years.

And yeah, we're, it's such a great place to play

because Dana and Germain are on the sound board.

And I'm going home.

It feels like you feel comfortable there.

And I think that's so precious for us musicians.

Yeah.

That's gotten a lot harder.

Dana and Germain have done a wonderful work there at Cargo Coffee

supporting the local music scene.

Hey, let's get back to the light music here with Jeffrey Jameshawi.

I know the name of the song since you just sort of mentioned it.

Home again.

Tell us about this song.

Yeah, this was a song that kind of kicked things off for me.

When I put the music video out,

someone was filmed here on State Street.

And just like it was crazy hanging out of the back of the car,

skateboarded through downtown Madison.

And we fire spinners on James Madison and drones.

And it just kind of was a video that allowed me to get to two

or a lot of places.

Just send it out.

Okay, this guy's legit, I guess.

We'll give him a shot, you know.

You are brave.

Was there a video for this song?

Yeah, that's all right.

Yeah.

You know, it's hard this week because of the tragedy.

You know, that happened in Madison.

And we had a mass shooting here.

And I just want to dedicate it to all the families and innocent lives,

you know, impacted by that and just sending, you know,

love out for them and thinking of them in this hard time.

That's beautiful.

Yeah.

We all are.

And thank you for saying that.

Jeffrey Jameshawi's live in the layer.

The song is called Home Again.

You're a live in a layer here on Max Ink Radio.

And we're going to look up this video too and share it.

It's a great video.

Mm-hmm.

Open roads and broken hearts.

I've seen the unseen and I don't know where to start.

I felt this pain.

I watched people go insane, felt my roots so deep down in the ground.

And they say,

go apart.

And I know now,

when love is from your heart,

I don't grow stronger.

These days grow longer.

I'm waiting for the sun to set down.

Stand my bare feet on the ground I am.

I'm home again.

I'm home again.

I'm home again.

We got leaks on both sides.

Got friends so in high fives in the walls,

built to high.

My capitals not to divide.

Walking down the street, feeling love in the sun.

Arms around me, baby heaven.

This is all we need and they say.

Go apart.

And I know now,

when love is from your heart,

it only grows stronger.

These days grow longer.

I'm waiting for the sun to set down.

Stand my bare feet on the ground I am.

I'm home again.

I'm home again.

I'm home again.

Home again.

I'm home again.

And they say,

smash your face.

And I know

they destroy what they say.

And do you feel?

I feel

all sweet.

I'm home again.

Love is from your heart.

That's our only place to start.

And it can never be taken away.

I'm home again.

I'm home again.

I'm home again.

I'm home again.

Home again.

I'm home again.

Welcome home.

Welcome home.

All right.

Hey, why don't we just keep you right over here and jam right into the next tune.

We're kind of coming up on the end here.

It's called Walk Through.

This is Jeffrey James.

That was a lovely song.

Yeah, thank you.

We didn't talk a lot about the new album,

but it's called Walk Through and Features at Three Fields.

And this is a title track on it.

Well, I've been traveling for far too long.

The body can't keep up with the mind.

And the soul in time.

And time again.

I fall blacked out.

Where to begin.

Of the brighter than light of the darker shadow.

It's heaven gonna walk through hell.

And the brighter than light of the darker shadow.

It's heaven gonna walk through.

It's heaven gonna walk through.

It's heaven gonna walk through hell.

Yeah.

If you've been struggling or feeling down.

I know this too, so pass.

Cause it cannot last.

A flower can grow.

A soil that's dead.

So approach yourself.

Make peace in your head.

The brighter than light of the darker shadow.

It's heaven gonna walk through hell.

And the brighter than light of the darker shadow.

It's heaven gonna walk through.

It's heaven gonna walk through.

It's heaven gonna walk through hell.

Oh, hey, hey, hey.

I'm taking a treasure.

So I'm riding left.

The most of us are walking.

Through no man's bed.

Through the open fire.

Through every day.

I'll keep you inside.

It's a prize for you, baby.

The brighter than light of the darker shadow.

It's heaven gonna walk through hell.

And the brighter than light of the darker shadow.

It's heaven gonna walk through.

It's heaven gonna walk through hell.

Oh, hey, hey, hey.

Oh, hey, hey, hey.

Oh, hey, hey, hey, hey.

Oh, hey, hey, hey, hey.

Oh, hey, hey, hey, hey.

The brighter than light of the darker shadow.

It's heaven gonna walk through hell.

And the brighter than light of the darker shadow.

It's heaven gonna walk through.

It's heaven gonna walk through.

It's heaven gonna walk through.

There it is.

Jeffrey James live in the lair.

Such a great job, Jeffrey.

Thank you so much for coming in tonight.

We really appreciate you.

What's your website, man?

Quickly.

The Jeffrey James show.com.

Yes.

After hours, Rob Robber's next on Max Ink Radio.