A beautiful voice, a fantastic musician, with the heart and soul of an angel.
- Willie Nelson
  • “If rosin were flammable violinist Elana James would be charged with arson.”

    -ink19.com

  • “An infectious combination of verbal wit and instrumental guile.”

    -NPR

  • “Elana is one of the sexiest, most talented musicians. Her style hints of another era…taking you places you thought were unreachable by today’s standards. And yet, here she is…”

    -Raul Malo (The Mavericks)

  • “James takes her inspiration from former Texas Playboy fiddler Johnny Gimble, but her playing also offers a nod to the red-hot stylings of jazz violin pioneer Stuff Smith.”

    -Greg Cahill, allthingsstrings.com

  • “A welcome, raw, chromatically-fueled intensity”

    -New York Music Daily (2014)

  • “[James’s] inventive violin style can still conjure up the unique image of Bob Wills strolling through Tin Pan Alley.”

    -Sean Daly, JazzTimes

  • “James handles vintage songs with great assurance. “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love” and “Exactly Like You” are all delivered without a hint of tiresome post-modern irony.”

    -Clive Davis, The Times (London)

  • “James has toured with Dylan, not the most laid-back of bandleaders, but one with an insistence on individual nuance and appropriate improvisation nonetheless, lessons James has now transposed to a more purely C&W idiom.”

    -Colin Fleming, Jazz Times

  • “…Sunny, amusing love songs given an added poignancy by her effortless vocal style.”

    -j. poet , Pulse

  • “…Innovative, original lyrics…Elana James’ unaffected vocalizing is infectious.”

    -Dorothy Hill , Jazz Now

  • “Some of [James’] songs seem destined to become classics. Her songs–like the best of Gillian Welch’s–sound like age-old gems unearthed, tunes ripe with sparse but powerful images, rustic phrasing and sweet playing.”

    -Marty Jones, Denver Westword

  • “James exudes pure countrified fiddle goodness.”

    -David Lynch, Austin Chronicle

  • “…James did not allow her cheerful stage presence and aggressive fiddling to overpower her subdued and smoky voice…. By the end of the night, [her] bow was frayed and the crowd was spent.”

    -Derek Raymaker, Toronto Globe & Mail

  • “As a fiddler, singer and writer, Elana James simply glows…She sings with elegant command.”

    -Craig Havighurst , Nashville Tennessean

  • “A beautiful voice, a fantastic musician, with the heart and soul of an angel.”

    -Willie Nelson

  • “The First Lady of the Fiddle”

    -Rolling Stone (Australia), May 2009

  • “Elana James’ throaty violin solos arrived in terse, epigrammatic phrases with a sprint, every so often, into chromatic harmony. She also sang in a breathy, un-self-conscious voice that made every double-entendre seductive.”

    -Jon Pareles, New York Times

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