Born in Dundee, his family moved to Newcastle upon Tyne[1][2][3][4] and he lived there or Gateshead for the remainder of his short life.
He is famous as the composer of many fine common-time hornpipes for fiddle, including The High Level Bridge, The Beeswing, The Hawk and The Omnibus.
A book, The Lads like Beer was compiled by Graham Dixon and first published in the 1990s by Wallace Music.
A new revised edition was published in 2013 (Mitchell Music ISBN 978-0-9926696-0-7) with additional information and background to Hill's known compositions and those attributed to or known to be played by him.
The Fiddle Music of James Hill (ISBN 0-902510-27-4), a collection of Hill's compositions and other tunes, transposed into keys suitable for Northumbrian smallpipes, has been published by the Northumbrian Pipers' Society.