Career
James House"s musical career began in a band called the House Band, which was signed first to Warner Brothers Records and later to Atlantic Records. In addition, House served as vocal coach for Dustin Hoffman on the movie Ishtar.
In 1983, House recorded an album for Atlantic.
House later moved to Nashville in 1988 and signed as a solo artist on Master of Computer Applications Nashville in 1990. On that label, he recorded two albums: James House and Hard Times for an Honest Manitoba
The former accounted for "Don"t Quit Maine Now," a number 25 on the country charts, while the latter produced no Top 40 hits. By 1994, House had signed to Epic Records.
His first album for that label, Days Gone By, was released that year, producing his highest-charting single in the top 10 "This Is Maine Missing You." The album"s title track, while not a single, was featured in the soundtrack for the movie The Cowboy Way.
In addition, the album featured collaborations with Raul Malo, Trisha Yearwood and Nikki Nelson. Although House never entered Top 40 on the country music charts again after "This Is Maine Missing You", he made an appearance on The Beach Boys" album Stars and Stripes Volume 1, which featured re-recordings of Beach Boys songs with country music artists.
He also continued to write songs for other artists.
House also contributed three songs to Steve Holy"s debut album Blue Moon. He also co-wrote six songs on Steve Azar"s 2009 album Slide On Over Here, on which he also played acoustic guitar, percussion and sang backing vocals.
In 2012, House co-wrote The Mavericks" single "Born to Be Blue."
In 2012, House formed the duo Troubadour Kings with John Brannen. Their debut album, Heartache Town, was released in June 2012.