Live Music: James Hearne

James Hearne sings the songs that he write with his own two hands.

A long-time fixture of Philadelphia’s bare-knuckled indie rock scene, James Hearne recently packed up his West Philly apartment, taking his wife, his bulldog and his guitar and hitting the road out to the Hudson River Valley in New York – moving into a historic home just spitting distance from the barn where Levon Helm and the Band recorded some of their best work.

Fans of Jason Isbell’s gut-wrenching, southern-tinged rock will find something they love in Hearne’s powerfully-wrought storytelling and sparse but nimble picking. Those who have embraced the promising modern-meets-classic country spirit of Sturgill Simpson and Lydia Loveless will find a kindred old soul whose work demands repeated listens on long drives. And those who occasionally find their solace from playing a Ryan Adams album loudly and a working their way through a tumbler of whiskey might just have found their new favorite act.