Album Review – Jamie Lin Wilson’s “Holidays & Wedding Rings”
If your perspective of the world is run through the thematic view of American mainstream country music, you will come to the precise conclusion that life starts at age 16, and ends abruptly at 24. Whether it’s celebrating those years with mindless and self-absorbed partying, or reminiscing back on those times in sepia regurgitations of Seger and Mellencamp, mainstream country makes sure to let you know that once you wear the cap and gown at college graduation, slip on a wedding ring, or see the plus sign on a paternity test, you’re irrelevant.
For the rest of us not stuck in perpetual glory days mode like Uncle Rico from Napoleon Dynamite, inexplicably life goes on. And lo and behold, the magic doesn’t always subside. Sometimes it persists, or even becomes enhanced as we find love and not just make it, have our own babies, and grow in understanding about who we are, not abandoning the narratives of young adulthood, but expanding from them.
Jamie Lin Wilson’s musical career started in college some 15 years ago when she was inspired by Natalie Maines of The Dixie Chicks, and by her junior year at Texas A&M she formed a group called the Sidehill Gougers (later, just The Gougers). But her musical journey didn’t end in College Station, and neither did her narrative. 2010 saw the release of a solo EP from the songwriter, but most notably she joined the Texas-based female supergroup The Trishas, and became a hub in one of Texas country’s most promising acts.
A hiatus in The Trishas project presented a window for Jamie to spread her wings, and that’s what she does in Holidays & Wedding Rings. Far from a songwriter who has spent her best material on past projects, or is too burdened with home and family to find time for the guitar and notepad, Wilson taps into the keenest observations and inspirations of her career by focusing on her role as wife, mother, and homeowner, while still ruminating on the series of bars and lonely nights that she can call upon from her past to speak to a younger audience with wisdom and insight instead of just “glory days” syndrome.
“She’s hoping for tomorrow, but she’ll take tonight,” says Wilson in one of the album’s early songs, referring to the loneliness the young adult single life can foster under the flowing beer and frisky one night stands. By the end she’s singing, “Number 3’s on the way, just found out yesterday. Gonna be a long, hot summer.” In between are reflections on home, husband, and family—looking at the family abode with cherished love even though it may not be fit for Better Homes & Gardens—the sense of place inherent in perspective of “Six years into a seven year drought,” or the conclusion that the grass is not always greener in her cheating song duet with Wade Bowen, “Just Some Things.”
This is a songwriter’s album in the traditional Texas sense, meaning the music and approach first and foremost focuses on exposing the truth of the lyric. Everything else falls into place behind that. It’s a country record, but one that doesn’t go out of its way to justify it country-ness; it worries more about telling the story. Steel guitar and other traditional instrumentation is a player here, even though on one song, “She’ll Take Tonight,” you can tell it started off as a really hard country shit kicker in the studio, and then got dialed back in fear it was a little too much, which it probably wasn’t. In places the production could have been a little more bold, but the haunting “Whisper On My Skin” was the perfect marriage of words and sounds.
Life tends to transpire over a span of 80 years, not just eight. And every moment, every era can be marked by enchantment, discovery, and the poetry of life being recited to the soul as it unfolds in a never ending ribbon of emotional moments. This is the wisdom shared and won by listening to Jamie Lin Wilson’s Holidays & Wedding Rings.
1 3/4 of 2 Guns Up.
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May 31, 2015 @ 5:04 pm
This was great. I really hope The Trishas get back together soon.
May 31, 2015 @ 5:12 pm
She kind of reminds me of Emmylou Harris.
May 31, 2015 @ 5:29 pm
Very much so ……agree completely . Even in her efforts to sing on key …
September 4, 2017 @ 10:13 pm
Jeez, just saw this.
Thanks, man. I do what I can.
October 6, 2017 @ 2:18 pm
You’re awesome, big fan. Would love to collaborate sometime.
May 31, 2015 @ 5:19 pm
Thank you so much for this review, Trigger!
From a combined lyrical, musical, and vocal standpoint, this is the BEST album that I have heard since at least Brandy Clark’s “12 Stories”, maybe even since Ashley Monroe’s “Like a Rose”. There isn’t a single song on this album that I dislike, and there are plenty that I just love.
Jamie Wilson possesses a gift for metaphorical subtlety in storytelling, resulting in songs that are simultaneously deep, moody, thoughtful, and catchy. The analogy of regretful cheating with “running for the edge and thinking you’ll fly, knowing damn well that it’s suicide” in “Just Some Things” is just heartbreaking, as are the depictions of the cold weather and memories of Kennedy’s death to set the somber mood in “Here Tonight”. The use of the “seven-year drought” metaphor to describe an up-and-down relationship serves as yet another example of the simple yet brilliant songwriting in this album. Even the murder ballad “Roses by the Dozen”, from a sub-genre that I generally despise, is saved by the use of roses to indirectly tell the tale.
The production of this album is simply gorgeous as well, thoroughly melodic, drenched in the country tradition, and allowing plenty of breathing room for the songs.
The greatest asset of this album, though, is Jamie Wilson’s vocals. They are so heavenly that they are impossible to properly describe in words. If she were a mainstream country artist, she would easily be the best vocalist since Lee Ann Womack, if not since Patty Loveless. This lady could sing a shopping list, and it would still give me chills. A lesser vocalist could have easily turned a song like “She’ll Take Tonight” into a hell-raising, “tough woman” screech fest. Under the supremely capable command of Jamie Wilson, though, the song turns into a simultaneously intense yet soothingly reflective experience that reveals the vulnerability behind the narrator’s hard exterior.
In sum, I can truly say that this album has enriched my life. Once again, I want to sincerely thank you, Trigger, for introducing me to this great artist. THIS is exactly the reason why I love SCM.
September 22, 2015 @ 5:17 pm
Eric, you’ve expressed almost exactly how I feel about this album. I’d never heard of Jamie Lin Wilson before this but this easily one of my favourite (if not my favourite) albums of the year. I’ve kept coming back to it since this review was first posted.
May 31, 2015 @ 5:28 pm
Trigger . This , imho , is smart , insightful review of this record riddled with some very keen observations on your part…the kind of observations that should inform far more music than they do , unfortunately. Adult music for adults …not adults who never lived the stuff mainstream radio raves on relentlessly about…adults who DID live it and continue to LIVE every new chapter of their lives with the same verve and wonder . I appreciated your take on this record , I hope its as worthwhile as your comments above are .Commenting on Jamie Wilson’s lazy pitch may be a moot point in light of what your review and her songs focus on , but having just listened to a few Joy Williams songs , Jamie’s struggles in the pitch department are a distraction for me , albeit minor . Also ….whaddaya say we fund raise to buy her drummer a cymbal and send a bass player over to her next session ?
May 31, 2015 @ 5:32 pm
I don’t see any pitch problems in Jamie’s voice whatsoever. What I see instead is a high-amplitude vibrato that nearly any singer would find tremendously challenging, and yet Jamie executes it with mastery.
May 31, 2015 @ 8:58 pm
Yeah, I don’t hear any pitch issues, and I think the point of the below video was to capture a more stripped-down sound. It really hurts me when folks read too much into the music examples posted on reviews. One song is never going to be an accurate description of an album, especially in this case when it’s a live video. It’s simply meant to give a glimpse into a project.
May 31, 2015 @ 7:34 pm
Thanks for this very thoughtful review, Trigger. I’m glad you got it. Grown-up music for grown-up people. 🙂 they say to write what you know, ya know. Novel concept.
I know i shouldn’t be reading comments because that’s bad for business, but I wanted to point out to Albert that he’s reviewing a one-take monitorless live performance video, not the studio album. Not that that’s an excuse for pitchiness, but it’s the only one I have. 🙂 give the album a listen. There’s even a bass player and a few cymbals (not many though…). Okay, I’m out. I really do enjoy your site and have been looking forward to your thoughts on this album. We worked hard on it and I hope it shows.
Oh, and Eric… Thank you!
May 31, 2015 @ 7:44 pm
Thank you, Jamie, for giving us the gift of your talent through this gem of an album.
I look forward to hearing more of your gorgeous voice in the future. In the meantime, here’s hoping that you enjoy peace and fulfillment with your family!
May 31, 2015 @ 8:59 pm
Thanks for the music Jamie!
May 31, 2015 @ 10:55 pm
“….. but I wanted to point out to Albert that he”™s reviewing a one-take monitor-less live performance video, not the studio album…..”
Been there …totally understand that . We have a small demo studio and we’re sticklers about pitch -vocally and instrumentally- as we hear about it right away on our publisher pitches . I’m not back-pedaling but in fairness to you , Jamie , perhaps I should have listened to a few more of your videos . ” Yours and Mine ” is a flawless vocal performance and a terrific write . In fact , I’m quite enamored with your voice – Kim Richey , Kasey Chambers , Claire Lynch come to mind in the way that they never let an ” over-the-top” vocal performance leave a lyric in the dust.
I wasn’t familiar with you or your band but thanks to Trigger I ( we ) are now . .Continued success .
June 1, 2015 @ 4:20 am
Thank you, Jamie for an amazing album!
June 1, 2015 @ 7:21 am
Very cool. Lord if the world could appreciate music like this then Monday mornings wouldn’t be so bad. Substance is just too much to ask for these days. Even most of the 30-somethings I come in contact with can’t grasp the reasons why i prefer raw talent and thoughtful lyrics to over the top production and catchy blather about parties and back roads. But like Trig pointed out, life does not end at 24, i just recently made that walk across stage for my diploma and it felt like a beginning to me but an end for so many. Now im on the wrong side of 25 and looking for music like yours to keep me grounded, sane, and copacetic. Thanks to you for making it, and to Trigger for relaying the message to me. Now i better go, i have a whole lot of music to explore from this artist i just heard of. 😉
June 1, 2015 @ 5:58 pm
Thanks for this amazing album Jamie! Since hearing Call A Spade A Spade you’ve been one of my 3 favorite woman vocalists along with Alison Krauss and Emmylou Harris. Already looking forward to hearing more of your music in the future.
May 31, 2015 @ 8:24 pm
P.S. I didn’t realize my colon/parenthesis smiley faces would be so obnoxious. I apologize.
June 1, 2015 @ 4:21 am
Jamie Lin Wilson has made a great album, and this is by far the most thoughtful review of it that I have seen.
June 1, 2015 @ 6:48 am
“Just Some Things” is one of the most heartbreaking cheating duets since Loretta Lynn and Conway Twitty.
June 1, 2015 @ 7:31 am
I was just Started at Buick factory at 24
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June 2, 2015 @ 9:01 am
[…] Country Music’s Trigger reviewed Jamie Lin Wilson’s Holidays & Wedding Rings and listed some of his best country albums of […]
June 2, 2015 @ 2:56 pm
Damn fine album; “Old Oldsmobile” is fantastic.