Dianne is a 27-year veteran of broadcasting and news journalism. She came into this life a whopping three and a half pounds, three months early, anxious to get started. She grew up hearing about family notables such as her great uncles, Judge R. Carter Pittman from Georgia, and Senator Key Pittman from Nevada who co-authored the Pittman-Robinson Wildlife Restoration Act, and her parents instilled in her an entrepeneurial spirit and the belief that she could do anything. She grew up with a strong sense of "family", her grandfather served as a county judge in Texas, and her great uncle was the first county clerk in the area of Texas where they were a pioneer family. In manufacturing, her dad traveled with the family all over the southwestern United States, promoting his invention. She saw a lot of country from the back seat of a Thunderbird. She once told her parents that when she learned to read, she was going to read every sign on the highway. She attended New Mexico State University, pursuing a degree in Journalism and Mass Communications with a broadcast 'track'. She's worked for seven broadcasting companies (10 radio stations), four newspapers, a television station, and freelanced news video for ABC and CBS affiliate television stations. She is a member of Voice123 (Dianne James - Voice Over)  She left television and produced commercial video, having taught herself editing, production, shooting, writing, and all other aspects of the business. She spent a year in the Leanin' Tree freelance versewriter program, writing one liners for greeting cards, to which she attributes her headline writing today. She is a songwriter, writes poetry, and paints in charcoal, pastel, oil, and acrylic.  She also cartoons.  The meander is truly a metaphor for her life. She says, though, had it not been for the Creator providing the opportunity for growth, learning, initiative, and a desire to create, she would not have been able to accomplish the things she's done.  She gives Him all the credit.

PHOTOGRAPHY

Her first camera was a Minolta XD11, and she spent many hours in the Mountains of Northwest New Mexico breaking it in.  Her favorite photographer, then, was Ansel Adams.  Most of her photography is color photography, and now she usually uses a digital camera.  Potter's Daisy, above left, Gizmo, above right, Carnation's friend, left, Wild and Purple, below left, and Birthday Rose were all taken with that ancient Minolta XD11.  Most of the photographs used in Meander Magazine are from a stock photo company, because, "I don't have to take pictures, except local ones, anymore, because of all the beautiful photography available from the agency and people like Daryl Black, who are much better at it than I am anyway," she said. 

ART

Dianne started drawing when she was a small child, mostly people, and her first pastel was Sole Survivor, above.  The title of the work embodies the meaning of the painting, with the lone tree standing with it's mate having been chopped down, among many other different kinds of trees, pine trees.  Sole Survivor was done several months after Dianne's fiance died of cancer, "Sole Survivor was what I call my "self portrait" and part of my healing process, and a statement that, yeah, he's gone and now there's no-one else in the world who understands me, but here I am standing, nevertheless. I think many times a person can be lonely in a crowd of people.  It is a universal feeling, I think.  But you have to go on.  It may hurt for the rest of your life, but you still have to go on, because there's a reason for that pain.  There's a reason we're all here."  Many of her paintings have a song or poem that goes with them.  The song Manifest was written in tandem with the painting Sole Survivor.  She is a self-taught artist.

MUSIC

When Dianne was 9 years old, her dad built a stage in the backyard for her and her siblings. Her dad, Bill Pittman, had been a songwriter and performer, playing lead guitar until he lost all the fingers on his left hand on a swabbing line on a drilling rig in Texas. Stubbornly determined to continue performing his music, he took up the steele guitar, playing with a bandage for his first new gig. He had played in Bakersfield California with Buck (known then as Buckie) Owens. Dianne's parents met at a radio station in Seminole, Texas, her dad was playing live on a radio program, and Dianne's future 7-year-old step-brother Gene was singing live that day. Her family was a very musical one, in addition to her dad's music background, her maternal grandfather was a violinist, and her grandmother played guitar. Dianne has been a member of the Nashville Songwriter's Association, International, as well as other regional music groups. In 1987, she was nominated for New Female Vocalist by the New Mexico Country Music Association, with whom she played concerts at various places, including the Western New Mexico Correction Facility when it was a women's prison. "I'll never forget that concert," said James, "we had to leave our driver's licenses at the front desk, and they issued us ID badges, telling us emphatically, 'Do not lose these, whatever you do'. We were all kind of scared, I think, especially the one man in the group, but it turned out to be a very rewarding experience. I sang Amazing Grace, and they really liked that one. Sure made a great audience." Performing since she was about five years old, Dianne, at 18, was a member of Jim Washington's band in Fort Garland before leaving the Valley for 23 years in 1975. Born in Seminole, Texas, also the birthplace of Tanya Tucker and Larry Gatlin, Dianne was named, this month, a semi-finalist in the national songwriting contest by the Dallas Songwriter's Association with both Hometown Faces and Shady Lady,  which were performed by Robin James and produced by Don Richmond of Howling Dog Records in Alamosa. 120 songwriters entered the Country category, and 25 semi-finalists were chosen.  Rollercoaster Ride (will take a couple of minutes to load).  

"My parents encouraged my sister, Debbie (whose work is in Gallery 1), to do art, and me to do music.  I have a brother, Robert, who is a sculptor, and another brother, Carter, is a writer and songwriter, and my brother Gene, who passed away last fall, was a poet.  My first, and only piano teacher was a widow by the name of Mrs. Tom Stansell.  I never knew her first name;  we always called her Mrs. Stansell out of respect.  She made me play classical music, so I learned classical before I learned to play anything else.  I still love it, as a result.  I remember my first piano was an old upright player piano with the sliding doors in front.  When I could get away with it, I'd open up the top all the way, open the doors on the front, and just play like the only two things in the world were me and my piano.  I used to get up in the middle of the night, sneak into the den, which was far away from the bedrooms, and play.  One time they moved my piano out on the porch.  I guess they'd had enough," she said.  "I don't have a piano right now, and one sure misses it."  She said keyboards are great, but they're not the same.  "A piano talks to you, much like an acoustic guitar, it's just very different, and hard to explain.  You can't get the same thing from an electronic instrument, in my opinion."

POETRY 

A self-taught poet, an avid reader from an early age, Dianne began to write poetry seriously in 1996.  The writer's group in New Mexico that I used to belong to was my sounding board on my songs and poetry.  One of the members said that poetry is difficult to share with other people, "Because it lets your guts hang out there..."  I used to only write rhyming poetry, and then one day, Nightfall just happened, when I was going through a difficult time with my mother, right after my dad died. So, now I write freeform as well. 

Music

Click on the treble clef/notes to listen to full songs.  They take about 40 seconds to load on high speed internet, so will take a little longer with dial up.  Please be patient.

SHADY LADY

Words and Music by Dianne James

Sung by Robin James / Produced by Don Richmond

Click picture to listen

The Story Behind the Song:

Dianne wrote Shady Lady in 1987, originally an anti-drug song, with the "shady lady"  a metaphor for addiction.  Most people who hear the song, however, just think it's the "other woman."  It was written when the singer, Robin James was still a small child.  Robin included it on her first CD project, and Shady Lady, along with Hometown Faces, has received radio airplay. 

© 2002 Dianne James (Original copyright 1987)

Liar's Promise - Guitar/Voice demo

Words and Music by Dianne James

Sung by Robin James / Guitar by Don Richmond

Click picture to listen

The Story Behind the Song:

© 1990 Dianne James

Hometown Faces

Words and music by Dianne James

Sung by Robin James / Produced by Don Richmond

The Story behind the song:

Hometown Faces, originally, was written about Dianne's hometown, Seminole, Texas, after sending her grandmother a long letter about the birth of her son.  The letter never reached her grandmother, and was returned.  Apparently the address wasn't complete, and though Seminole is a small town, it was not delivered.  Her grandmother died before she could tell her about it.  That loss was expressed in a song-  Hometown Faces.  She realized, later, that it could have been written about any town.  While pursuing a singing career, Dianne James could never get good tracks recorded on this song, so twenty years or so later her daughter, Robin James, included it on her first CD, Green Winter.  The voice you hear singing this is Robin's voice.  You can visit Robin's website here...   To listen to more of Dianne's songs and radio ads visit this website...

Hometown Faces © 2002 Dianne James (Original copyright 1984)

MANIFEST-Home Demo

Words and music by Dianne James

Sung by Dianne James

Click picture to listen

The Story Behind the Song:

Prior to writing Manifest, Dianne had been through a divorce which took two years.  She was talking with her pastor, one day, about overcoming adversity.  She told him that with two small children, she didn't have a washing machine, nor money for a laundromat, so she'd washed clothes in the bathtub for a year or two.  She told the pastor, "I felt very resentful of my ex-husband while bent over that tub full of laundry, and then one day I thought of how my grandmother had washed clothes on a rub board, without the benefit of hot running water and laundry detergent, in the Texas heat."  For her grandmother, it was a matter of carrying buckets and using lye soap without gloves.  "I realized, then, that I was so blessed, and from that moment on thanked God for the blessings I had.  A week later, I was able to purchase a washing machine on time payments.  I think that the Lord was waiting until I appreciated what I had, in order to give me more," she said.  The pastor looked at her and said, "You have found victory."  She never forgot that.  The experience, and a subsequent loss of a fiance to cancer, inspired her to write Manifest, which she describes as a song about spiritual rain, and thanking God for all things, good and bad.  He does, indeed, work all things together for good for those who love Him. 

Manifest was originally copyrighted in 1990 under the name Thank You, Lord, for the Rain.  Dianne performed it for the first time at Second Baptist Church in Lamesa, Texas, when Jerry Luck was the Music Minister.  "There were people crying, and I was amazed to see how a song that I had written could touch another life and connect on such a deep level," said James.  "Jerry, later, helped me to get a recording of it using the microphone in the sanctuary and the church's recording equipment.  He's the one who suggested I call it Manifest.  After a while, I did change the name to Manifest.  He's one of the few people who believed in me at that time.  I'm so thankful for that encouragement."  Another demo was produced with more instruments, the home demo that's here on this site.  "I had recorded a New Mexico thunderstorm on video tape and we used that in the intro and various parts throughout the song," said James.  "I still need a good recording of the song, but I guess that will happen when it's supposed to." 

Manifest Lyrics: