These are interesting times we are living in and the one thing I can do with the skills that I have is to make music that evokes a feeling and takes people somewhere… to do what I can to try and make the world a more pleasant place.” The word ‘honestly’ really reflects how I aspire to live my life and create my music. The feeling I get with this music is a sense of sincerity and intimacy. “With a record’s title I always try to find something that will communicate the feeling I get when I listen to it.

“I’m fighting the good fight to be my own artist and not be pigeonholed,” says the genre-blurring James. If you sense a direct line between those titles, you’ve already come a long way toward understanding what motivates the four-time GRAMMY nominee and multi-platinum-selling musician. On September 1, 2017, Boney James released his 16th album, this one titled Honestly. It’s been a full quarter-century since a young saxophonist and composer released his debut recording as a leader, Trust.