Rock My World Canada, chapter 104: Jim Byrnes

[Mike Carr has created a catalogue/reference work featuring all kinds of Canadian rock and alternative releases from the past few decades. Check out his a massive volume on Canadian music history entitled Canadian Alternative & Indie Reference and Collector’s Guide. It’s an incredible discography of hundreds of bands. – AC]

James Thomas Kevin Byrnes (born September 22, 1948) is an American born blues musician, guitarist,

and actor. He has lived in Vancouver, British Columbia since the mid-1970s. On February 26, 1972, he was struck by a passing car while he attempted to help move a stalled truck on the Island Highway North of Parksville, which injured his legs and forced them both to be amputated. As a musician, Byrnes has won the Juno Award for Blues Album of the Year three times, for That River in 1996 and House of Refuge on Black Hen Music in 2007, and for Everywhere West in 2011.

Byrnes was also honoured at the 2006 Maple Blues Awards, as Male Vocalist of the Year. The Canadian Folk Music Awards recognized him as the Contemporary Singer of the Year in 2006 and 2009.

Find out more about this artist and hundreds of other Canadian artists in the softcover edition of Canadian Alternative & Indie Reference and Collector’s Guide. Get your copy here. Follow Mike on Facebook and Twitter.