Do you ever look around at your friends and think, 'Man, I feel like I’m totally not where I’m supposed to be in life?' Iowa City artist James Tutson can relate. In fact, he’s got a whole new album’s worth of stories all about being overdue.
Tutson has been a staple in the Iowa City music scene for years. He got his start as a kid singing southern Gospel in a church choir alongside his siblings and has evolved into a renowned soul musician in the Midwest. And around town, everyone knows him. He renovates homes; he goes to church; he’s out in the community; and he creates some of the best music to ever come out of Iowa.
The Tutson of today took some time to develop. And Late Bloomer is homage to Tutson’s personal untimeliness.
“I wanted to do something that was just kind of about life and family and what it means for me to learn life’s lessons,” Tutson said. “I sort of feel like I’m always late to learning life’s lessons. I was even late hitting puberty! I come late to music, I come late to some of the lessons that I feel like other folks have a handle on. And now [that] I have a family and kids, it’s figuring out late, like, ‘Okay, who am I?’”
Late Bloomer is a melting pot of Iowans, from the backing band to the orchestra to the production team. It's a reflection of the network he’s built in Iowa, and he’s not taking a single person for granted, especially after he received monetary support from the Iowa Arts Council.
“Part of my goal with applying for some of these grants and for designing some of these art projects is that we have so many great musicians in Iowa and great studios and great people,” Tutson said. “So I wanted to just keep building relationships with folks in Iowa that are doing good work.”
While there’re tons of genres thriving and battling for the limelight in the state, there’s one thing that binds every musician together: the drive for collaboration.
“I think the benefit of living in a town like Iowa City and working with the people I work with is that everyone is willing and excited about helping you execute your vision,” Tutson said. “I have so many good partners and collaborators and people that I trust to give decisions to.”
Music exists in every corner and crevice of the state, and Tutson is constantly discovering that artistry. Finding those artistic connections gives him pride in the music scene here.
“There’s always another incredibly talented musician who’s from here, who lives here, who’s doing work that’s amazing that people don’t know about yet,” Tutson said. “We have so many gifted musicians, but also quality people. I have influences around me, not just in my record collection.”
His community has pushed him to take risks within his own art. Tutson’s 2025 album, Fool For You, navigated the ups and downs of love and utilized brass instrumentals provided by funk and R&B band The Dip, adding a certain type of sparkle against his velvety vocals. Late Bloomer takes it a step further.
“We’re doing a full orchestra ensemble for the record. I’ve been trying to think a little bit more robustly about like, 'Let’s arrange this big,'” Tutson said. “I used to just say, ‘If I can’t play with my people, then I’m not going to put it on the record.’ And now I’m like, ‘Well, I want strings, I want horns, I want all those things,’ and then you just got to find the people to play it.”
Constantly improving, Tutson’s mantra comes from another James, who hails from New York City and the 1960s Civil Rights Movement.
“People are probably sick of me talking about the James Baldwin quote that sort of defines my music career and my writing,” Tutson laughed. “Every record I do, I’m asking myself, 'What part of the story am I at? How am I telling it differently this time? How am I getting better?’”
Every writer has only one story to tell, and he has to find a way of telling it until the meaning becomes clearer and clearer, until the story becomes at once more narrow and larger, more and more precise, more and more reverberating. – James Baldwin
Tutson’s music grooves into your bones. The quicker songs keep your feet tapping long after you realize they even started. His slower songs sway your torso and ease you into that tranquil feeling of an early Sunday morning.
Though he may claim he’s late to the party, Tutson is right on time with Late Bloomer; the transition period of autumn is the time to begin processing new sentiments and challenges.
His album release show at The Englert Theatre in Iowa City is set for Oct. 10. Iowa singer/songwriter Andrew Hoyt will open and Tutson will be joined alongside a 15-member ensemble band, which includes local musicians Riley Thurm (treesreach), Blake Shaw (StrumDrum, Freegrass Trio) and Tara McGovern (Freegrass Trio, The Soft and Low, doras nua).
