Birthed from the dusty high plains of the bible belt, wordsmith James Lee Baker sources the essence of his craft from a small-town past and the journey on the road of self-discovery and the way out. Laced with the essence of mysticism, his emotive and thought-provoking songs speak to the shared, tender heart of our human condition.

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In 2020, he released100 Summers – a full-length LP of songs centered around a theme of change. The title track reached #1 on the FAI Folk charts that month and went on to garner nearly half a million streams across platforms. Two of the songs on the project –Returning to Paris and The Last Cowboy in Hutchinson County – were selected for several nationally-known songwriting contests. 

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He returned to the sessions recorded at Blue Rock Studios under the wing of Chris Bell and Roscoe Beck and recorded a few covers to round out a second cover project called Impressions, which was released in 2022. The single Did Galileo Pray?, a cover of Ellis Paul, charted #10. John Apice from Americana Highways said "Baker’s cover of Bob Dylan’s 'Just Like a Woman' is one of the finest I ever heard. He captures the lyric, understands it and possesses it as a first-class interpreter."

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These days, he's working on a new EP that shift directions into the modern landscape of Nashville Folk music, recording some moving and groovy tunes with Anthony da Costa. He will also be releasing a book of poetry that was birthed out of the collective catharsis and isolation of the pandemic.