Some musicians study American soul music. James Hunter absorbed it. It started at nine years old in Essex, England. His grandmother handed him a Dansette record player and a stack of 78s, and Jackie Wilson’s “Reet Petite” lit something that four decades of recording have not dimmed. MOJO magazine calls him “The United Kingdom’s Greatest Soul Singer.” On Thursday, November 12, he brings the James Hunter Six and the Off the Fence Tour to Cohoes Music Hall in the Capital Region.
About the Show
Off the Fence, released January 16, 2026, on Dan Auerbach’s Easy Eye Sound label, is Hunter’s eleventh studio album, and a fresh start: it is his first on Easy Eye Sound, following a substantial run on Daptone Records. It also marks his 40th year as a recording artist, a milestone that lands more like fuel than nostalgia on this one. PopMatters gave it 8/10, finding it delivered “the blues with a wink and a nod”: twelve self-penned tracks that feel, in the reviewer’s words, like discovering “a pile of old 45s from a forgotten jukebox at a roadside bar.” The record includes a rare duet with Van Morrison on “Ain’t That a Trip” — a partnership stretching back to Hunter’s work on Morrison’s A Night in San Francisco (1994) and Days Like This (1995).
Opening the evening is McKinley James, a Nashville guitarist and soul singer described as a “young high-energy throwback soul singer” drawing on raw soul, gritty blues, and vintage rock ’n’ roll. James is also on Easy Eye Sound, with a new Auerbach-produced record due in 2027.
This band has earned its room. The James Hunter Six have opened for Mavis Staples, Aretha Franklin, BB King, and Van Morrison. Those four names constitute something close to a Hall of Fame of this form. The Off the Fence Tour marks the band’s first extended U.S. run since 2024.
Venue & Logistics
Cohoes Music Hall is a 350-capacity historic theater at 58 Remsen St. in Cohoes, in the Capital Region. It is a small room for an artist of this stature, the kind where you can watch Hunter work without a screen between you and the stage. The show starts at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets
Tickets are $33–$53, available online or by phone at 518-434-0776 (box office open Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; reduced fees available by phone). Buy tickets.