James Price

composer and performer of Beacon

November 4, 2015

James Price has been writing and performing music since 1998. Growing up in Houston, Price played guitar and sang with several bands and finally found his calling as a singer/songwriter. In 2004, he moved to Stillwater, Oklahoma to pursue a degree in journalism at Oklahoma State University while remaining focused on music. For the next three years, he played his folk oriented music at coffee shops in Stillwater, Tulsa and Oklahoma City. In 2007, he formed what would become the James Price Band and performed his original song, "Lay Low," at Oklahoma State's Cowboy Showcase. The band received second place, and soon after, received first place at the SGA Battle of the Bands. Alone, Price leaned more toward acoustic music, but once he added other musicians, the band's style evolved into piano-driven alternative rock. The James Price Band spent the next year and a half playing throughout Oklahoma, Texas and other surrounding areas. Since then, the band has relocated to Houston and has released a six-song E.P. with Magnolia Coast Records. The James Price Band is optimistically focused on growing a regional base and plans to release more creative yet relevant records in the near future.

The James Price Band's first record, Beacon, has been almost two years in the making. In 2007, the band moved from Stillwater to Houston to record and produce a full-length album themselves. By the end of the summer, the record was not finished and frustration had set in. Price was then approached by Magnolia Coast Records to go into a professional studio to record an E.P. Once the legal aspects were settled, the band started recording in March 2008 at Upstairs Productions in Oklahoma City. Beacon was finished in November and published on December 31. The record has six songs ranging from light-hearted, piano-driven pop rock to deep, melodic ballads. Some of the influences that are apparent throughout the record are Coldplay, Elton John and Damien Rice.

URL: https://library.okstate.edu/news/celebratingbooks/2009-honorees/james-price

Last Updated: 14 January 2022