JIM BYRNES
Neighbor, Friend, and Legend

The word “legend” is tossed about too easily these days, but somehow it sits comfortably on Jim Byrnes’ shoulders.

Byrnes has been a Vancouver institution for so many years that it’s easy to forget that he hasn’t always been here, but his repertoire and playing style reveal his deep roots in southern U.S. blues.

As Jim says: "From callow bohemian to weary pilgrim, here’s a little of the journey so far. The city streets of my boyhood; steam heat rising off the Mississippi; the railroad; grits and gravy; the Cardinals and the Dodgers on the radio; summers in Kentucky and the Ozarks; Jimmy Reed at The London House East, Bobby “Blue” Bland at the Cosmo Hall; Muddy at the Moonlight Lounge and Slick’s Lakeside; the High Plains of east Colorado on a winter morning; the Charlie Company Boogie; all those nights in all those rented rooms; the wind off the ocean; the winter storms; the tough break and the heartache; the dust of Mexico; twilight on the Seine; the evening breeze, the distant thunder, the sweetness of the rain; the light and the laughter in my children’s eyes; the constant struggle and infinite joy of love."

Born in St. Louis, Missouri, serious blues country, in 1948 to a homemaker mother and municipal accountant father. He grew up on the city’s north side, where one of the neighbourhood bars had Ike and Tina Turner as the house band. As a teenager going to music clubs, he and his buddy were often the only white people in the place.

“We never had any problems. We were too naïve and had too much respect for the music and culture – they knew it, they could tell.”

By age 13, Jim was singing and playing blues guitar, with his first professional gig coming in 1964. Over the years, he has appeared with a virtual who’s who of the blues, from Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker to Taj Mahal and Robert Cray. You could say that he’s been on the blues highway almost 60 years.

He was drafted and served in the Vietnam War for a year and has lived in Vancouver since the mid-1970s.

Byrnes has been a West Ender for 13 years, although his history in the community harkens back to the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. If you were here in those days you may have seen him performing at Capp’s, which later became Lord Byron’s, and at the late, lamented Sheraton Landmark Jazz Bar. He fondly recalls hanging at The Rembrandt, dining on Robsonstrasse and enjoying other aspects of West End living with his wife Robyn, who was born and raised in the West End and who has memories on every corner.

In 1972, he was struck by a passing car while he attempted to help move a stalled truck on the Island Highway north of Parksville, an accident which injured his legs and necessitated their amputation.

Fifteen years to the day after the accident, Byrnes started appearing on Wisely as Daniel Burroughs, better known as Lifeguard. It was his first major role and lasted until 1990. Later, he starred in the fantasy series Highlander: The Series as Joe Dawson, a member of a secret society known as the "Watchers." He reprised his role as Joe Dawson in Highlander: Endgame, and Highlander: The Source.

Byrnes’ extensive film, television, animation, and other credits are well documented on his Wikipedia entry and his own website.

As a musician, Byrnes has won the Juno Award for Blues Album of the Year three times and has a large collection of other tributes, awards, and commendations. For many Vancouver locals, in addition to his music, he is beloved for his ten-year run every December as Scrooge in Bah! Humbug!, a modern stage re-telling of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, set in the Downtown Eastside. Scrooge is a pawnshop operator and hotel landlord who renovicts his tenants.

And of course, to many West End businesses and neighbours, he’s a friendly guy with a wave and smile and time to chat, with some not even knowing that guy at the next table or shopping in the next aisle, is a legend.

‘Cause he’s that kind of guy.