Press Clips and Reviews of Jim's performances and recordings:

 

Jim Wearne
(at Potomac Celtic Festival)

For me, the rest of Saturday was taken up by balladeers (in the morning) and pan-Celtic bands (in the evening). The former group included Jim Wearne, a Cornish-American singer with a baritone voice and a large repertoire of songs from his ancestral province. As always, he does the Cornish pub song proud, reminding me of old Cyril Tawney Records.
Steve Winick – Dirty Linen #90 Oct/Nov ’00
From Cornish World's review of
Me and Cousin Jack
For some years Jim has been ploughing a lonely furrow singing Cornish songs some 3,000 miles from their source - and a very sound job he does too.
It is a cause for celebration that Cornish songs have travelled so well across the Atlantic and that Jim is not only a faithful performer of this traditional material, but also has real concern for Cornish issues.
This album is not just about traditional Cornish Material.  It also has a number of tracks by Jim.  Some show a wicked sense of humour!

 

From Dirty Linen Review of Me and Cousin Jack:
Jim Wearne is one of the best performers of Cornish songs you're likely to hear.

His rich, deep voice puts me in mind of Cyril Tawney…

"Goin' Downtown" and "The Girl of My Dreams" are nice, depressing songs in the blues and country modes, respectively.

…the funniest song is another country-tinged number, "You Can't Call Up Jesus on Your Carphone," a cautionary anthem about carphone crashes.

"The Tin Mines of Cornwall"… is beautifully written, describing the mines as "Older than Christ and deeper than Hell."

…if you love unusual folk songs, you'll surely find a few of these to your taste.
From Celtic Beat Vol. 6 No. 4
"Jim Wearne is singular.  In a field where Americans of Scottish and Irish heritage dominate, he has cut a place for the Cornish ballad."

In Peregrine Recording Studio - Elmhurst Illinois
From Cornish World Spring 1999
(Regarding performances at the Ely MN Gathering in 1997)
One of the more enigmatic yet engaging characters to appear during the week was a tall, dark bearded singer with a lush, sometimes lyrical, sometimes angry but always sonorous deep voice.  This was Jim Wearne.  Jim is definitely a star of the American Cornish circuit.
His songs and his passion for Cornwall do not merely chronicle Cornwall as viewed from the American perspective.  From time to time he connects with an event or mood and sings out for Cornwall, touching hearts and nerves.
He is definitely an American-Cornishman who has thought about how to reconcile both identities, and he is living that complex interaction through his music.

 

 

 

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