Becky Ward reviews the sophomore album by Jaime Wyatt – Neon Cross – and details how this carves a unique space in the genre, worthy of note.
It’s been four years since Jaime Wyatt last released music so it makes sense that she might not be on your radar! That’s bound to change after listening to her sophomore album Neon Cross because this new album proves that Wyatt is here to stay. Produced by Shooter Jennings, the son of Waylon Jennings, the album combines Folk and Americana with modern honky tonk country. Wyatt could be considered the black sheep of women in country music, especially given her past. Now, more than ever, is the time to give alternative country artists a platform and Wyatt represents the changing face of Music City as a Queer artist herself.
Although Wyatt is in an original category herself, the album has a strong 70s vibe which takes influence from the likes of Emmylou Harris and Tammy Wynette. Still, Wyatt has developed her own unique voice which she carries consistently throughout the album as she reflects on her past and even pokes fun at the tragedy it held. While the songs in this album blur into one, the lyrics are worth paying attention to, because there is a message which can be taken from each song.
Wyatt wrote Sweet Mess while she was in the throes of a crumbling relationship. Probably the most relatable song on the album, Wyatt explains how she dreamed that the relationship would work out, something we all do but she knows it was meaning less and she’ll be forgotten soon just like the rest of her past relationships. The title track, Neon Cross has Wyatt accepting herself for who she is and telling the listener that she isn’t phased if they don’t like her. She is who she is because of the life she’s lead so far, and she won’t change that because it’s her. Wyatt isn’t good at everything but she’s doing her best at L I V I N, even though she’s scared of it. With references to church, Wyatt describes what she needs.
 In the rocky ballad, Make Something Outta Me, Wyatt describes her hard past and the fact that she’s never had a free ride and there’s always heartache, but she begins to question her religion. If god made the world out of nothing, why couldn’t he have made something better for her? By Your Side is a tragic lament of the consequences that drugs can have on and individual. When Wyatt lost her father and her best friend died if an overdose in the same year, she couldn’t be there for them because she was on drugs herself. This song is Wyatt’s painful way of easing the burden of grief that she carries for both of them.
The music industry has long been regarded as a man’s world and Wyatt is tired of being spoken down to. Just A Woman is Wyatt’s county feminist anthem and even if they run the industry shed still rather be a woman, because, after all, wasn’t your mother just like her? One of the things which makes Wyatt such a good singer/songwriter is her ability to self-criticise. In Goodbye Queen, she admits that it’s not easy but she’s doing her best.
Mercy is a slowed down sober track where Wyatt takes a break from her usual feminist march to ask for protection as she doesn’t want to be hurt. By this point this listener has gotten used to Wyatt and her headstrong seemingly confident personality so this track comes as a surprise where Wyatt suddenly seems to let her guard down.
 Wyatt uses Rattlesnake Girl as a platform to claim her identity for herself. She knows not everyone who listens to country music will like the song but that doesn’t matter to her. She is tired of keeping secrets and losing time when she could have been living. She doesn’t fit in, but Wyatt knows this is what makes her unique.
The pace changes in Hurt So Bad. This song is more upbeat than the others. Wyatt asks why it hurts so bad when a breakup happens even though it was for the best and everyone knows it. This song makes a listener want to dance away their sorrows in true Honky-tonk style.
Demon Tied to A Chair In My Brain invites the author to imagine what it must be like to be in Wyatt’s restless brain. The lyrics conjure up a feeling of not being able to escape, of being trapped in a state despair. Perhaps this song is a reflection on what it was like for Wyatt to battle drug addiction while losing loved ones around her, she was dragging around chains which she wished she could be free of.
Wyatt’s second album is a flawless comment on what it’s like to be in her shoes.. The LA born, Nashville resident isn’t afraid to stand out and be herself which is what makes her music so personal to her. The album makes for lazy Sunday afternoon listening and reflects the stormy route Wyatt took to where she is today. Hopefully this album marks a turning put for Wyatt where she has quit her addition and there is more music to come.
