You could say that Brendan James still represents. Going on nine years after graduation, the singer-pianist is still in touch with fellow alumni from his time in UNC-Chapel Hill's Clef Hangers. And his latest single namechecks a well-known song by a fellow North Carolinian:
Now we are driving
Down the shoreline
This car is cut in two
I am quiet
She is humming
"When The Stars Go Blue."
"My wife and I both love Ryan Adams, and that line was written because he's somebody we both listen to a lot," James said in a recent interview. "There was a time when we heard a Ryan Adams song while I was driving her to the airport for a three-month trip to Africa. That was just after we'd gotten married a year and a half ago. Without going into it too much, that was a hard, tricky time and we had to say goodbye for a few months. I was pursuing my dream and she was pursuing hers -- working with orphans in Ghana. It was hard to watch her go, but I had to. That's part of the mutual respect we have for each other."
For more, including details on James' upcoming show in Durham, see the preview in Friday's paper.
UPDATE: Tonight's show is an early one; doors open at 6 and the music starts at 7.
As we move on into 2009, let's pause to take one last look back at the year just past. Friday's paper has a story about various things you might have missed in 2008, such as Chapel Hill alumnus 
