James Meston (musician)

For the British civil servant and political figure, see James Meston, 1st Baron Meston.

James Meston (born 1975) is an Adelaide, Australia-based radio producer, announcer and podcaster. He has produced and co-announced the ‘Arch D Radio’ show on 1079 Life FM since 2011, and created the ‘Adelaide Rushcast’ podcast in 2017.

From 1993 to 2017 he was a Blues guitarist with the stage name "Sweet Baby James" who was named as Official Ambassador of the 2007 Australian Blues Festival. He has played onstage with Jeff Healey and Sue Foley. James was also the subject of a 2-page feature article in the 7 April issue of Australian Guitar magazine.

James started performing in Adelaide bands in 1993 at the age of 18, including "Greg Baker's Blues Party" and "Blind Dog Taylor & The Healers". In 1997, he moved to London, England and regular worked with David Hadley-Ray, Pete Brown and a short stint with "The Big Town Playboys", filling in for regular guitarist Andy Fairweather Low while he was on tour with Eric Clapton in 1998.

On returning to Australia at the end of 1998, James worked as both a trio and, from 2002, as a duo with drummer Rob Eyers in "Sweet Baby James and Rob Eyers". They released a 2005 album "Rhythm 'n' Blues" (Black Market Music (record label)), followed in 2010 with "Double Voodoo Blues". Rhythms Magazine said this in a 2008 issue of their performance at the Australian Blues Music Festival: "Sweet Baby James and Rob Eyers, these guys are fantastic, their two-piece guitar/drum combo outshoots the White Stripes, the Black Keys, the Mess Hall, the Fumes, anyone you care to mention". James has also done session guitar appearances on albums by Brian Cadd, The 3 Dolls, Heather Frahn, Charlotte Mudge and Raw Honey.

Stylistically, his current sound was influenced by R. L. Burnside, Elmore James, Muddy Waters and Sue Foley. He always used Fender electric guitars and Maton acoustic guitars. He endorsed Pure Tone Guitar Strings.