Little Rebellion Music

I Am Jaida Dreyer – Jaida Dreyer (Streamsound, 2013)

When Jaida Dreyer arrived in Nashville, she thought that the career path before her was songwriting rather than performing. Considering how many talented young people move here specifically to become a recording artist, for Dreyer to still be picked out while not prioritizing this, you know it must mean she is very special indeed. With her debut album, I Am Jaida Dreyer, she announces herself to the country music world. The ten songs are really ten little vignettes, each describing a different part of her story so far.

And what a story it is. Having grown up showing horses, and been crowned World Champion aged five, Dreyer grew up fast in a nomadic lifestyle. She shows a preparedness borne out of self-reliance, and the talent and willingness to express herself honestly in her songs.

‘What’s wrong with me?,’ is the line that opens the album and that first track, ‘One of those Guys,’ starts off an exploration of Dreyer’s hopes, fears, dreams and mistakes. Her debut single, ‘Half Broke Horses,’ is an honest examination of the hard-to-break cycle of unhealthy relationships, a recurring theme also explored on two other ballads, ‘If That’ll Make You Love Me’ and ‘Bad Habits.’

With her voice wreathed in steel and fiddle, she asserts her independence on ‘Cocaine,’ and her resilience on ‘Put Your Boots Back On.’ The funky upbeat ‘If that Ain’t Love,’ breaks the tempo of this mostly slower record by enthusiastically praising one relationship, while ‘Confessions’ stomps through the ashes of another. The retrograde beauty of ‘South of the Sun’ closes this solid debut album.

Dreyer has a unique voice, a descriptor far too often used but in this case entirely apt. Producer Byron Gallimore knows just how to frame her performance and builds plenty of steel and piano into the foundations of the tracks. He lets the mixes swell and retreat in all the right places, and the foot-off-the-gas approach leaves a lot of space for Dreyer in which to express herself freely.

While remaining moored to traditional country music, I Am Jaida Dreyer is a modern and confident album that could set the tone for a rewarding career, especially creatively.

I Am Jaida Dreyer is in stores today.

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Liv Carter

Liv is a career coach for creatives, and the people who work with them.
She holds several certificates from Berklee College of Music, and a certificate in Positive Psychology from UC Berkeley.
Her main influences are coffee, cats, and Alexander Hamilton.

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