Four decades of Boston, and a song every week

What does a Jim McAuliffe song sound like? Imagine Jim Croce having lunch with John Prine, and Raymond Carver stops by.

Three chords, a wry eye, and somebody’s whole life turning over in the second verse.

In 2026 McAuliffe is writing and releasing one brand‑new original song every week for the entire year. It is an unusual commitment for a songwriter at any stage, and it is the second time he has done something like it. During the pandemic he recorded a song a day on his iPhone and put it out the same night — close to 200 videos over two years, drawing nearly eight million views and an audience of just under 5,000 people who now turn up for whatever he posts next.

“Pumps their music full of horns, keys, funky rhythm guitar and bluesy vocals.”NPR, on The Jimmy James Gang

McAuliffe is a Boston lifer. He formed the Killer Buicks in the 1980s with his brother Gene, released a record in 1993, and played the rooms that defined the era — The Rat, The Channel, Harper’s Ferry, TT the Bear’s in Cambridge, and The Tam in Brookline. Through the 1990s he sang and played harp in the blues group The Medium Wallys, alongside Gary D’Ercole on drums, Steve Satter on guitar, and Rich Gulden on bass.

In 2006 he and Gene formed The Jimmy James Gang and released an album of original songs, Welcome to the Real World, produced by Gene McAuliffe and engineered by Dave Westner at Woolly Mammoth Studio, with Sean Staples, Paul Kochanski, and Paul Ahlstrand. In 2010 the brothers went acoustic as JackKnife Valentines, with D’Ercole and Gulden back in the rhythm section, and played steadily around Boston until the pandemic.

He answers to Jimmy James. He also answers to Jimmy the Throat.

Gary D’Ercole, Waltham