While still in his teens Christopher James headed south to live in the land where blues began performing with various blues groups from Clarksdale, Mississippi to Dallas, Texas. Returning to Maryland, James founded his own group, won the Baltimore Blues Society's Blues Challenge, and was a finalist in the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, Tennessee. He has released five albums. Out of Wooden Boxes (2008) received two WAMMIE nominations from WAMA for Best Blues Recording and Best Blues Vocalist. The Maryland State Arts Council presented James with two Individual Artist Awards in 2012 for performance on his CD When the Moon Gets High Tonight: The Blues Mandolin Experience, recorded with GRAMMY® nominated producer Professor Louie and in 2016 for composition of new unreleased works. In 2015 Chris played mandolin and guitar on Guy Davis' album Kokomo Kidd.

‍