James Bonamy
* 29. April 1972 in Winter Park, Florida

Sänger, Songschreiber
Instr.: Gitarre
Stil : Contemporary Country

1995–1996: What I Live to Do

In 1995, he was signed to Epic Records,^[2] and his debut album, What I Live to Do, was released in 1996 under the production of Doug Johnson. The first single, "Dog on a Toolbox," peaked at #64 on the Hot Country Songs charts, having been withdrawn as a single because label staff thought that there were too many songs about dogs at the time.^[3] After this song was withdrawn, its original b-side, "She's Got a Mind of Her Own" was shipped as the second single.^[4] This song peaked at #26 on the country music charts, followed by "I Don't Think I Will" (his most successful single, with a #2 peak) and the #27 "All I Do Is Love Her."^[4] At the 1997 Country Music Association awards, Bonamy was nominated as Top New Male Vocalist,^[3] and TNN Music City News nominated him as Star of Tomorrow.^[2] In addition, he toured in 1997 with Emilio, Clay Walker and Terri Clark.^[3]

Dan Kuchar of Country Standard Time gave the album a mixed review, praising Bonamy's voice but criticizing the songwriting on most of the tracks and saying that the album did not have a distinctive sound.^[5]

1997: Roots and Wings

A second album, Roots and Wings, followed in 1997.^[6] Its lead-off single "The Swing" reached #31, but the other two singles — "Naked to the Pain" and "Little Blue Dot" were less successful, reaching #65 and #63 respectively.^[4] Bonamy wrote one of the cuts on it with Johnson and Pat Bunch, and chose the title track (which was written by Skip Ewing and Bill Anderson and previously recorded by Doug Supernaw^[3]) at the suggestion of Epic's A&R director, Debbie Zavitson.^[3]

This album also received a mixed review from Country Standard Time, with Larry Stevens praising "Daddy Never Had a Chance in Hell" but criticizing the rest of the album for having a more pop-oriented sound.^[7] Thom Owens of Allmusic gave a three-star rating out of five, saying that he considered it an improvement over the debut.^[8] Bonamy has not recorded since Roots and Wings.