A Bold Take on Sounds and Subject Matter on Jaime Wyatt’s ‘Neon Cross’

Neon Cross is a strong LP, one befitting the buzz building around Jaime Wyatt in the aftermath of her well-regarded 2017 EP Felony Blues. The album and its 11 tracks, flawlessly produced by Shooter Jennings, are an offering in sturdy ’70s-inspired rockin’ honky-tonkers and ballads, imbued with an outlaw ethos that reflect Wyatt’s real-life struggles with drug addiction, grief, and sexuality.

“Goodbye Queen” is a country-rocker about life on the road, its love ’em and leave ’em scenarios, and the impact it has on forming a lasting romantic relationship. The hook is ebullient, allowing Wyatt to take well-worn musical terrain and craft a nice little earworm of a tune.

On “Rattlesnake Girl,” Wyatt takes familiar sounds and themes and subverts them. Underneath a straightforward country twang, there’s an element of psychedelia and then there’s the lyrics. Wyatt sings about her sexual orientation and the fact that she identifies as gay. It’s not a subject matter that’s addressed all that often in the genre, so to hear it from a burgeoning star with a reputation for realness feels bold and exciting. The title track is similarly confessional, except whereas “Rattlesnake Girl” is more restrained in its musical approach, “Neon Cross” is straight-ahead and propulsive.

Neon Cross is bookended by a pair of ballads. Opening track “Sweet Mess” is piano-based, very much rooted in the style of early Leon Russell or Elton John, if less virtuosic than those. It’s good, and if it was about a minute shorter it’d be a great song. “Demon Tied to a Chair in my Brain” closes out the album. Anchored by some nice fiddle work, it’s an outstanding country-blues lamentation. Wyatt gives her most soulful and bluesy vocal performance on the record and ends Neon Cross on a high note.