James Walbourne (born 2 February 1980) is a British singer, guitarist, and multi-instrumentalist. He is the current lead guitarist in The Pretenders as well as one-half of The Rails.
Biography
When he was young he wanted to play in clubs around America. To fulfill his dream, he left school to go on a US tour with Peter Bruntnell and there he became a member of the bands Pernice Brothers and Son Volt.[1] He became a member of The Kinks’ front-man Ray Davies’s solo band and of The Pogues.[citation needed] In 2008, he was recruited to The Pretenders by Martin Chambers just before the Break Up the Concrete tour.[2]
In 2005 he formed a band, Royal Gun, with his brother Rob Walbourne but that disbanded after a short tour of England and the US. In 2010, he started working on his first solo album The Hill, and it was released in 2011 by Heavenly Records.[3][4]
Family and music
In 2007, when Linda Thompson was working on her album Versatile Heart, the author Nick Hornby introduced Walbourne to Thompson where he met Kami Thompson for the first time. In 2011, they accidentally met in Los Angeles at the 50th-anniversary show for McCabe's Guitar Shop and this time their relationship grew and the pair eventually married in 2012.[5][6]
They founded The Rails and released their first album Fair Warning on Island Records.[7]
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