When the scheduled opening act did not show, he only had a few hours' notice to put together a set of blues standards with members from the local Regina band "Flying Colours".

[7] In 1988, following his association with Vaughan, James released his self-titled debut album,[1] which yielded several international hit singles, as did the follow-up Sudden Stop.

[1] He presaged the mid-1990s swing music revival with his Colin James and the Little Big Band project, which released a successful first CD in 1993,[1] with a follow-up gold record in 1998,[8] a third disc 2006, and a Christmas album in 2007.

In February 2005, James guest-starred in an episode of the television program Corner Gas, a Canadian sitcom based in rural Saskatchewan.

Its follow-up, Miles To Go, was released in September 2018, to equal acclaim entering the top 10 blues charts in Canada, USA, UK and Australia.

[12] James made a cameo in the Canadian television program Corner Gas, Season 2, episode 15, which was originally broadcast on February 21, 2005.