I actually don’t quite remember how or when I met James Cruickshank. I think (and this is opening some rusty hinges in my brain) that it was at The Rails in Byron Bay. I most likely would have been on tour with either Dave Graney or Charles Jenkins at the time, and James was introducted to me by one of them. So, this would have been somewhere between 2003 – 2006. The more I think about it, the more I think I would have been touring with Dave, but fuck it, the details don’t matter. What matters is that over the years, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and hanging out with a number of ‘known types’ in the music industry. Some are just like anyone else, most are dicks. Some are great. James Cruikshank was one who, for some reason, stayed in my mind as just a really fucking nice person. I remember having beers with him at The Rails on our first introduction, and then some time later (could have been months, may have been years), running into him again and having a few drinks and catching up once more. This happened a few times over the years.

I’m not sure what I’m trying to say, except that James was a lovely man. A rarity in the industry in that he gave no shits as to how famous you may be, or who you might work for. These are the people I loved to hang out with, and unfortunately are rarer than you might think.

I hadn’t thought of James in quite some time, and to read this morning’s news of his death caused me more sadness than I would have expected considering this is a man I caught up with maybe five times, a decade ago.

James Cruickshank was a good man.

That’s all I really have to say.

Vale James.