Jamie Lin Wilson was an artist recommended to me a few years
ago. The subsequent period has seen her occasionally flicker on my horizon with
only a 2015 album release to follow up the original 2010 Dirty Blonde Hair EP. However,
2018 is set to be a major landmark for this Texas singer-songwriter based south
of San Antonio. The good fortune of obtaining an advance copy of JUMPING OVER
ROCKS set the pulse racing with countless early plays that tagged this album as
one of the year’s forerunners in the authentic country stakes. As the album is now
out for all to enjoy, the time is ripe to share the love for a record
spiralling deep into the ethos of this blog’s title.
JUMPING OVER ROCKS has its name drawn from a lyric in the
mid-album story track ‘Death & Life’
and evolves into an eleven-song collection of primarily original numbers. The exception
is a nodding tribute to the late great Guy Clark via a version of ‘Instant Coffee Blues’ in tandem with
fellow Texan Jack Ingram as her duet partner. It is fitting that Clark has some
presence on the album because Wilson is one of many artists stoking the fire of
articulate song writing and fully embracing the sweet spot where country meets
folk. The last analogy had its origin in the press release, proving that
occasionally, publicist hyperbole warrants.
Jack Ingram also features on the first track in the
co-writing role. ‘Faithful and True’
is a stunning emotive ballad, which exudes an enormous amount of strength straight
from the off. Wilson’s voice really gets into the aching groove from the
subsequent track ‘The Being Gone’.
Here the Texas reference ventures north to Dallas in the lyrics and cements a ‘Lone
Star’ rhetoric that begins with the album recorded in Austin.
Despite the paucity of solo releases, Jamie Lin Wilson is an
experienced operator on the Texas music scene. There is no rookie naivety on
the album, just the work of a seasoned professional, upholding the constitution
rather than acting as a revolutionary. There is nothing wrong with that stance
especially when eleven tracks to salivate over emerge.
Making substantial cases for the stand out moments are two
tracks with serious connotations. Wilson teams up with Turnpike Troubadours
frontman Evan Felker for the rousing ‘Oklahoma
Stars’ to bring a slice of quality country music c/o west of the
Mississippi. At the album’s conclusion, the style drifts heavily into Brandy
Clark territory with the character led ‘Alice’
reminiscent of the great storytelling songs that launched her associate into
the upper realms of country music. Whether a similar path follows for Jamie Lin
Wilson is probably unlikely, but she knows her niche and plenty of adorable
praise will still pour in from astute critics.
There is a tidy mix of stompers and smoochers across the
album. ‘Run’ is pure country gold and
rattles along with a tempo to keep the boots shuffling. At the other end of the
scale, ‘Everybody’s Moving Slow' is
your archetypal tender slow dancer and hits the heartfelt spot amicably. The
ubiquitous steel maintains a steady upbeat feel to ‘Eyes for You’, while ‘If I
Told You’ stoically flies the flag for the more emotive temperate numbers. The
stark message that eases out of ‘In a
Wink’ is that some much of this album has a stand-alone appeal making it
very easy to syphon any one of the tracks for radio play.
The authenticity and real deal nature of JUMPING OVER ROCKS
makes it an album to celebrate as much as one to deliver endless listens. Good
music travels over the wires easily today, so if Jamie Lin Wilson had a desire
to make a European trip, then plenty of fans would embrace her. Enjoying this
cracking record makes having faith in that early recommendation handsomely pay
off, with or without the live dates.