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Backroads, The Only Way To Go

I come from the kind of country roots that require boots, not Wi-Fi. Raised near a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it town in actual upstate New York—above the Thruway, where the deer outnumber the people and the population recently ballooned to a whopping 139.


Started my education in a one-room schoolhouse, where one heroic teacher wrangled seven grades. Each row was a different grade, and recess was basically survival of the fittest.

My childhood was a petting zoo gone rogue: rabbits, dogs, goats, a calf, and a crow named Pete who thought he was family. Almost adopted a baby skunk once—until it mistook me for a threat and gave me a cologne I couldn’t wash off for a week.

Worked everywhere that smelled like sweat and sawdust: dairy farms (where country music first wormed into my ears), lumber mills, blacktop crews, and county highway gigs where I cut grass with a scythe—because nothing says character-building like medieval landscaping.

Spent most of my youth outdoors, hunting, fishing, and learning that snow doesn’t care if you forgot your gloves. As a teen, I drank beer before it was legal, hitchhiked to barn dances, and absorbed enough country music to qualify as a walking jukebox.

Went off to Darrow School, where “hands to work, hearts to God” meant everyone pitched in—students, teachers,  even the janitor’s dog. Then came college, followed by a detour into sales and acting. My country songwriting roots were already planted deep, fertilized by hard work and a few questionable decisions
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I’ve always bloomed on my own schedule. Got married at 45 (still going strong), had a daughter at 50—people assumed I was her grandfather, which made for some awkward PTA meetings. Started acting at 65, songwriting after that. 

Turns out, country time runs on its own clock—and I’m right on schedule

Backroads, The Only Way To Go

James Stewart Evans

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