James Church on SoundBetter

James Church is Australia's first call dobro player. Noted for his impeccable taste and tone, he has been featured on recordings by some of Australia and New Zealand's top singer-songwriter, Americana, and Country artists, including Felicity Urquhart, Fanny Lumsden, Brad Butcher, the Bushwackers, Jenny Mitchell, Harmony James, and Mike McClellan.

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Credits

6 Reviews

Endorse James Church

by Justin P.
Verified
James' playing is absolutely gorgeous. He has such a fantastic ear for the instrument. 10/10 recommend.
by Ludvig I.
Verified
Incredibly sensitive playing, and very easy to work with. Recommended.
by Aleyce Simmonds
James is a world class musician for both studio and live purposes. Until I met James, I used Dobro players for my recordings from the US that were considered the best. Let me tell you, they might have been beyond amazing but, James Church is the BEST! And, a beautiful person. I couldn't recommend him highly enough.
by The W.
We had the pleasure of having James Church play dobro on two original tracks of our new album. After just giving him a vague idea of what we wanted, he nailed it straight away and totally got exactly what we had envisioned! The hardest part was choosing which take to use, as they were all so good. James was a delight to work with. His tone, touch and feel are world class.
by Jenny Mitchell
I had the pleasure of working with James on my most recent record ‘Wildfires.’ He is the dream player for any singer songwriter. He knows when to shine & went to lean into other players PLUS he happens to be a lovely human too. I just wish he could hear how many times my community ask about & compliment the dobro player on my record.

I cannot recommend James enough & am excited to work with him on more music in the future.
by Jason Lee
I had James play on my new album and man can he play the dobro! His unique sound, playing and musicianship is number 1. Every track we got back was exceptional. Will be working with James a lot more in the future that’s for sure.

Interview with James Church

Q: What's your typical work process?
A: A client sends me their track with any notes about particular ideas or areas where they want me to play. They may also send a chart. I do my best to support what the lyrics and music suggest and help to bring the track to life. This generally entails playing as organically as possible on my first pass, and then making fixes where necessary, before recording more takes when I have become familiar and comfortable with the song. I like to send 2 versions to the client so they have plenty of choices for the song.
Q: Tell us about your studio setup.
A: I have a few Dobro's that have different characters. One is an old Dobro brand for the more traditional sound, but my main workhorse is a beautiful E-Model built by Paul Beard. I currently work with a Schoeps CMC6 condensor microphone into a Roland Octa-Capture.
Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?
A: Musicians: Stuart Duncan, Jerry Douglas, Bela Fleck, Mark Knopfler, Tim O'Brien, Gillian Welch, David Rawlings Producers: Gary Paczosa, Erick Jaskowiak
Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.
A: The most common type of work I do is remote session work, where a client sends me their track with any notes about particular ideas or areas where they want me to play. They may also send a chart. I do my best to support what the lyrics and music suggest and help to bring the track to life.