Vancouver roots-rock band Son of James is putting a distinctly Chinese Canadian spin on a country classic, releasing a new interpretation of The Chicks’ “There’s Your Trouble” that blends the musical traditions of Nashville with the sounds and cultural character of Vancouver’s Chinatown.
The new recording combines familiar country, rock, funk and soul influences with traditional Chinese instruments including the erhu and guzheng. Rather than approaching the track as a conventional tribute, the Vancouver group says it rebuilt the song around its established “Chinese Canadiana” identity.
The cover also serves as the latest preview of the band’s evolving catalogue ahead of its forthcoming album, Things I Never Knew.
Lunar New Year Celebration Sparks an Unexpected Country Cover
The idea for the recording emerged while Son of James frontman Shon Wong was preparing Fire Horse Rising, a Lunar New Year celebration incorporating a country-inspired Kung Fu Saloon.
“I was driving home from work while organizing Fire Horse Rising, our Lunar New Year celebration built around a country-inspired Kung Fu Saloon, when The Chicks’ ‘There’s Your Trouble’ came on my playlist,” says frontman Shon Wong.
The planned celebration was already bringing together elements that might not traditionally share the same space, including Johnny Cash favourites, line dancing, mahjong and ping pong, all interpreted through the cultural setting of Vancouver’s Chinatown.
That combination influenced how Wong heard The Chicks’ song during his commute.
“Almost instantly, I stopped hearing it as the original recording and started hearing it as a Son of James song,” he says.
Erhu and Guzheng Reshape the Song’s Instrumental Character
The arrangement began taking shape almost immediately, with Wong imagining how the original song’s country instrumentation could interact with instruments central to Son of James’ sound.
“When the fiddle came in, I could hear Anna Fang’s erhu. When the banjo and pedal steel entered, I imagined Michelle Kwan’s guzheng weaving through those parts,” Wong says. “Then I started hearing all of our voices, Richard, Adam, Tannie, Yung, and mine, stacking harmonies throughout the song.”
The resulting recording brings together Richard Pinto and Adam Richards on guitars and vocals, Johnny Walsh on stand-up bass and Ed Whelan on cajón. Michelle Kwan performs guzheng, while Anna Fang plays erhu. Tannie Lam and Yung Coffey contribute vocals alongside Wong and other members of the ensemble.
Son of James Connects Nashville and Vancouver’s Chinatown
For the band, the objective was not to remove the country identity of “There’s Your Trouble,” but to explore how it could coexist with another musical tradition.
“Our goal wasn’t simply to reinvent a country classic. It was to ask a different question: what would this song sound like if it had been written in Vancouver’s Chinatown instead of Nashville?” Wong says. “The erhu and guzheng don’t replace the country influences, they sit beside them, creating a conversation between musical traditions that reflects who we are as Chinese Canadians.”
That approach reflects Son of James’ broader musical strategy, in which Chinese instruments are integrated into contemporary North American roots, rock, funk and soul arrangements rather than treated as separate stylistic additions.
Vancouver provides a natural backdrop for that combination. The city’s historic Chinatown has long been an important centre of Chinese Canadian culture, while the broader West Coast music scene has provided space for artists drawing on multiple cultural and musical traditions.
New Single Builds Toward ‘Things I Never Knew’ Album
Wong describes the finished interpretation as maintaining the recognizable spirit of The Chicks’ original while establishing its own musical identity.
“It’s country soul, Chinatown, and a whole lot of Chyna Trucker Funk,” he says. “We hope people don’t just hear a cover. We hope they hear how music from different cultures can naturally belong together and maybe hear a familiar song in a completely new way.”
“There’s Your Trouble” follows previous Son of James releases including “Come On” and the group’s interpretation of Queen’s “We Will Rock You.” Those recordings similarly combine conventional rock, funk and soul instrumentation with guzheng, erhu and musical influences connected to Vancouver’s Chinatown.
With Things I Never Knew forthcoming, the latest release further defines the band’s Chinese Canadiana approach: taking familiar musical forms and placing them in conversation with the cultural and instrumental traditions that shape the group’s Vancouver identity.