Tim McGraw may have sung about being "half Cherokee" on his 1994 breakthrough hit, "Indian Outlaw," but singer/songwriter
Richard Jaymes is the genuine article. His Native American blood is every bit as much a part of him as his organic, blues-driven, country-rock roots. While that sort of stat might be helpful in breaking a new artist, it's just possible that the one-two punch of his powerful, appealing voice and earnest, heartfelt, and supremely catchy songwriting might be potent enough to do the trick. Unlike even some of the most popular country artists who add their vocals to tracks played by Nashville's finest session cats,
Jaymes is also unique in that he's a jack of almost all the instruments here -- keyboards, guitars, banjo, and percussion. He leaves the fiddling to
Jason Thomas and the pedal steel to Wally Murphy. He can write romance à la the playful and jangling "Sweet Southern Girl" with the best of them, but he's also a thoughtful, socially conscious songwriter who gets right up in the faces of our current economic crises on the disc's first single "Dollar and a Dream." The song covers it all: the Wall Street meltdown, government bailouts, greed, and our culture of consumerism. Elsewhere, the Florida born and raised
Jaymes bears his Southern roots proudly, celebrating the down-home joys of "Southern Comfort" and going deeper into Americana territory on the raw ballad "Soul Shine." His wit shines through clearly on "Miss America's Got the Blues," an anthem-like barn-burner about a faded beauty queen faced with the cold truth that her glory days are behind her. Despite that colorful detour, the true spirit of this impressive set is captured on "That Was Yesterday," a moody yet searing blues-rock meditation that shows
Jaymes learning from his past missteps and emerging into a future colored with that necessary wisdom.