Music

(music) is the food of love so why not grab a bite... Although there is much more music available online Precious Time and Everybody digs Ragman Jones are the only two fully formed albums. In the sense that they are made to play in a certain order, create a variety of moods and feelings. There is a different version of Precious Time somewhere that has less tracks, just 10 I think, and it has a more relaxed mood. However, life is't always like that and the albums reflect different times and offer a variety of different feelings. 

Leap 

Director: Jon Pegg

Everybody digs Ragman Jones is the second studio album from Ragman Jones and was produced and engineered by Nick James & Ryan Snow at Barnville Studios.

Available at Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, Soundcloud & Deezer

Precious Time - Precious Time, the first Ragman Jones album, devised from difficult times and created with the help of many friends and family

Available at Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, Soundcloud & Deezer

Ragman Jones brings credible music to the table, with the kind of songs that are crafted with caring hands and experience.’ ‘This is a very schizophrenic album, what a journey...’ ‘Ragman's world, is beautiful & precious; will the next world be the same?’ ‘I was expecting to hear a 10-12 track album with only the 'produced' songs, it makes a pleasant change to hear some of the songs on an album that you would normally only get to hear on a bootleg. That is not saying they are less profound or beautiful as tracks such as the title track precious time, she's a mocking bird or beautiful world, it is just that as an album, you feel welcomed into the world of Ragman Jones’ AMAZON

Ragman Jones, is the band & project name for British songwriter Nick 'Skip' James. James has previously been nominated to become. member of the Recording Academy  for two songs, Precious Time (from the album of the same name) & Beautiful World (also taken from the album Precious Time). With a reasonable amount of airplay on independent radio stations in the USA, and lots of Internet radio stations too, touring is imminent. Ragman Jones has also released an EP - 'Simpler Times'

Other Eps & Albums

Leave in Style

Up Bushbury Mountain

World on a String

Born in Edgbaston Birmingham, I grew up in Worcester & Warwickshire, Spain & Florida. Always keen to write and listen, pen and book in hand and walkman in the ears.
Much of my late teen years were spent hitching around the UK, playing gigs and parties from London to Lancaster, living the hobo life, camping in woods in the summer & hoping to find a warm bed in winter. A warm bed was found in and I spent a winter or two in Spain, after that I settled in Birmingham after meeting a girl & it was then I made some musical friends.

My first studio outing was with producer Bob Lamb - UB40, The lilac time and Duran Duran. Bob saw the promise of a singer songwriter with expressions of Neil Young, Nick Drake and others and gave me a day in the studio as a birthday gift. Going on to give me a support gig in Birmingham. I carried on playing here and there locally & nationally then joined a band or two, some local notoriety but nothing major & learned more about the studio process.

The last band I was in - TCP* -  was picked up by a label and we were recording album tracks with Tom Newman: Tubular Bells, Cat Stevens and Paul McCartney, deals were being negotiated and then the a&r guy got fired, it wound down soon after that.

During a visit to Florida to be with family, I gave music a rest and started writing more stories, children's stories, poetry & prose And began a couple of novels. While in Florida I had a call from a band that wanted me to join them... So I came back to Birmingham and then we started writing and rehearsing.

Later, down the line I began recording with up with Brian Bannister, a long time friend who was producing, and recording. We messed around with a few songs, cathartic, sound finding songs, that people liked... it wasn't too long until wen found the sound we wanted and started to make an album. This was to be the album Precious Time.

MUSICAL INFLUENCES:
early years - 50's rock&roll, Elvis, Otis Reading, The Rolling Stones & The Beach Boys.
Later, once old record shops were in reach 70's stuff: Neil Young, Dob Dylan, Paul Simon, Led Zeppelin and Nick Drake who had lived very close to one of my childhood homes.
Discovering artits a gigs revealed some hidden gems: Townes Van Zandt - still one of the best gigs ever - Steve Earl, The Eels, The Flaming Lips. Music is all around and I'll listen to anything if it grabs my attention, anything listed above to classical pieces. Current favourite artists -  Melody Gardot, The Cave Singers, Birdcircus, Wilco & A Camp

Artwork from what would have been a CD release of Precious Time and Simpler times...