As a child he wasn’t allowed to play with transformers; as an adult he writes songs about them. That pretty much sums up James Struthers, the light-hearted, shaggy-haired 20 year old, in a nutshell.

Struthers picked up his first guitar six years ago (a Yamaha that suffered an accidental, untimely death at the tires of a pickup truck), but considers himself more of a singer than a guitarist, “I think both are equally important in songwriting, but I’m more confident in my vocal range than my guitar prowess.”

Unlike most singer-songwriters – and musicians in general – Struthers doesn’t always rely on personal experiences for inspiration during the songwriting process. “I draw all of my inspiration from the first line that I write in a song, and it usually comes from nowhere; it’s very detached from myself,” explains Struthers. “However, I have written a lot of songs that have been firmly attached to my experiences or my life, whether intentionally or after the fact.”
A soft-spoken man that always bares a sincere smile, Struthers sees his lack of emotional input in his music not as a detriment to its power and relate-ability, but as a conduit for others to create their own world within his songs. “That’s the beauty of art: you don’t have to be writing, or drawing or creating with your heart and soul for it to be interpreted with other people’s hearts and souls,” says Struthers. “It is human nature to pick things apart and make them relevant to ourselves.”

Being a snowboarder born and raised in Winnipeg – a prairie city that certainly isn’t lacking in snow, but is as flat as a runway – Struthers moved to Kelowna, BC in 2008 in order to pursue his studies in between slope breaks. Beautiful mountains aside, Struthers found himself longing for a place where his artistic juices could flow freely. That place, he discovered, was back in Winnipeg, “There’s something about Winnipeg that Kelowna didn’t have. The scenery was nice, but it wasn’t a creative environment. Winnipeg will always be Home to me.”

After two years away, Struthers returned home to continue an education in psychology at the University of Manitoba, and of course, to create wonderful music for the world to enjoy; which, at the end of the day, is all that our friend James is hoping to accomplish, “I’d take the sacrifice of living in relative poverty in order to be remembered [for my music]. I’d rather leave a legacy than be rich. That being said, I’d have both if I could. Chikka chikka!”

Considering the quality of his music, it’s a safe bet that James Struthers, the man with the baby blues, might get a chance to have his transformer… and play with it too.