In these troubled times, there’s nothing like live music to lift your mood, Julian James believes.

Julian and his travelling modern Hill Country blues outfit visited the Crossroads Bar on Friday, March 13, touring their new album, which includes a track with American Blues legend, Charlie Musselwhite.

Performing with his wife Beci Kate, Julian said it‘s going to be a night of “groove-heavy Americana” and hill country blues, with Melbourne duo, “White Lightning” joining the two on stage as special guests.

“A lot of it is about connecting with people; because it’s a bit of a crazy world out there,” Julian told Dubbo Photo News of his love of live performing.

“We’re all after a reprieve from it, and that is why live music is so important, it offers us that,” he added.

He explained that the appearance of Musselwhite – whom Dan Ackroyd’s character in the cult 1980 film, “The Blues Brothers”, was supposedly based – on his current album, “Prey to the Crow”, was due to the humblest of musical instruments.

“Yeah, by happenstance, a friend of mine has a really good harmonica that Charlie likes to use when he’s here, he heard some of my music, and we got in contact with him,” Jullian explained.

“He actually played with Muddy Waters and it is on a Muddy track, ‘Catfish’, that he features on the album.”

Now two decades touring in his trusty Toyota Coaster, he said that much of the album was inspired by he and Beci’s life as musical minstrels.

"This record comes from years of living on the road; Beci and I live in a bus, and we’re almost always on tour,” Julian said.

“These songs didn't come from a writing room; they grew out of real places, real nights, and real people we’ve met along the way; having Pete, Matt, and the Hussy Hicks involved felt natural, and getting Charlie to play harp on 'Catfish', was a dream come true," he concluded.