For James Tutson, music is a lifelong thing. He told me in a telephone interview that growing up, “We had a 10-person congregation, and I had five siblings and my mom, and we were the whole church choir. From the minute you could talk, you were singing in our family and singing in church, you know, gospel music. And listening to soul music. All the legends were present in my house.”
Listening to Fool For You, the latest album by Tutson set to release this month, is an unusual experience — not because it’s strange, but because it’s instantly affecting and familiar. We’ve heard rootsy soul before; it’s part of the DNA of American music. In Tutson’s case, you can hear the soul music he grew up with: Al Green, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder. But along with artists like Allison Russell and Rhiannon Giddons, Tutson is finding a new soul vernacular for this century.
After going to college, he moved around. “Chicago, to Minneapolis and Indianapolis. My wife and I’ve been back here since about 2015.” Since returning to Iowa City, “I’ve been slowly but surely getting more into the music scene and writing more,” Tutson said. “Trying my hand at recording my own stuff and doing songwriting, all leading up to this latest project.”
With six previous studio albums, he isn’t a beginner. On this latest LP, you can hear the confidence and freedom in his voice. His plaintive tenor has a bit of a rough edge, and he’s a natural singer, always on beat and in tune.
Tutson began exploring the guitar for the first time as a student at the University of Iowa.
“In college I was like, man, I got to keep this music thing going somehow and I can’t really sing. Guitar is perfect for a dorm room. You know, like the stereotypical college guy, everybody’s got a guitar that they learn songs [on] or whatever.
“But one of my musical mentors, he’s a guy named J.J. Alberhasky, who was a folk player. Pretty quickly, I picked up guitar and sat behind him and learned. I think in folk music, the guitar is so much a part of the songwriting. That’s how I started to play. I would call myself ‘folk-soul.’ As I learned more about the guitar, it’s like you just take one step further each time, adding to the story and to the arrangement and the style of how you play guitar and in the tones that you craft.”
James Tutson with his guitar, solo on stage, could carry a show, no doubt. But underneath the emotion of the songs on the album, there’s always a deep joy in playing with an ensemble.
Tutson will perform an album release concert at the Englert Theatre on Feb. 8 — and he’ll be far from alone.
“When I was thinking about doing this album release show, I was considering who might be a good opener. I was kind of running through the list of people I could ask. There’s so many great musicians here and people that I would love to share the stage with. It occurred to me, ‘what if I just asked if they would come play songs with me?’ We could play some of the songs that didn’t make the record that I think would fit their musical styles. I’m grateful. I’m honored that people said yes.”
The first group of performers on Feb. 8 will include Deb Talan, the Diplomettes, Alyx Rush, Bella Moss and Emily Phillippi, joined by a backing band: Tutson on guitar, Blake Shaw on bass and Tyler Carrington on drums.
In the second set, Tutson will present Fool for You in full with an 11-piece band — complete with a horn section. If the live rendition is anything like the album, the evening will be a modern Iowa spin on the classic Memphis soul sound, exemplified by Al Green. The Iowa part of the sound, for me, is the sincerity and serious love the musicians put into their performance.
“There’s just something about soul music,” Tutson gushed. “People resist genre sometimes, but I love to play in the genre of soul because they’re these sounds that just give you the reassurance of soul. Whether it’s organ or the guitar or the horns on this album. You hear those and it just makes you connect with generations of soul.”
This article was originally published in Little Village’s February 2025 issue.