The answer was to take his recording future into his own hands. In 1999, James funded the recording of his Design For Living album, which featured such superb songs as Reno, Little Criminals and Stranger Than Fiction. Mostly recorded with friend and producer Scott Kingman at his studio in Melbourne, the album was eventually licensed for mainstream distribution and found a willing audience that came to appreciate the new material through James’ live shows.

While radio wasn’t interested, James’ self-sustained recording output has remained steady and true.

A parallel recording opportunity came when James commenced live shows that were pared down to stark acoustic performances, initially in the company of Mark Seymour, the former Hunters & Collectors frontman. The popularity of these shows led to the recording and release in 2005 of And the Horse You Rode in On, featuring acoustic reworkings of songs from throughout James’ recording career, avoiding many obvious touchstones to instead allow a tasty array of deft tunes, perfectly suited to acoustic treatment, to bask in the limelight.

As further proof of his versatility and interest in diverse performance mediums, James has performed memorable songs to accompany a delightful series of children’s books illustrated by Australian artist Wendy Straw – The Little Engine That Could, Mr Froggy (an original Australian edition of Mr Froggy Went a-Courtin’) and Save the Bones for Henry Jones. James also popped up as a guest vocalist for country rock band The Distance on their song Country Life in 2008.

With the release of TCB in 2010, an album of songs originally recorded by Elvis Presley, James proves that he’s open to infinite sources of inspiration. Devised with producer Charles Fisher, TCB features 14 songs from the Presley songbook played straight and tight, built around such swingin’ gems as Good Luck Charm and Such a Night, the jumpy rockabilly jaunt of (Marie’s the Name) Latest Flame, the slippery silken shuffle of She’s Not You, and the soaring bombast of Kentucky Rain. “Nobody should be that precious about it. It’s not an Elvis album; it’s quite simply an album of great songs. Hell, it’s meant to be fun.”

At the age of 52, James Reyne reflects fondly on the most recent chapters of his long music career, content in the knowledge that his work continues to bear the stamp of quality and originality – even if it doesn’t equate to chart-topping sales and high rotation radio airplay. “I always get a chuckle when someone says to me ‘Whatever happened to you?’ And I can say that I got infinitely better at singing and writing songs, and make better records every time I go into a recording studio. Really, when people look at me now and listen to my music, I just hope they see and hear someone who’s really enjoying himself.”