“I think it’s about priorities, really,” Jamie Lin Wilson says of her song “Moving Along.” While Wilson is best known as one-quarter of Austin-based Americana/alt-country sensation The Trishas, the lyrics to “Moving Along” yield the title of her debut solo album Holidays & Wedding Rings, which drops on May 19th. Country Music Pride is honored to have been selected to host the world premier of that track.
Listen to “Moving Along”
In discussing how she got from “Moving Along” to Holidays & Wedding Rings, Wilson says “The title came from a line in the song that says ‘how I miss the little things like holidays and wedding rings.’ I’m having to figure out the balance between my family and my career and make sure not to miss the little things.” Though, with her first solo album and her third child due out at the same time, Wilson appears to have the family and career balance down.
Musically, “Moving Along” is well-crafted, melodic and highly introspective Americana in the vein of Emmylou Harris. Beginning at a slow tempo and gradually building to a steadier pace, the song preserves the feeling of a purely acoustic piece even with electric instrumentation. “Moving Along” is a perfect vehicle for Wilson’s velvety, twangy alto voice. The instrumentation is also memorable, especially its elegant traditional string work and dulcet pedal steel worthy of Pure Prairie League’s John Call.
Lyrically, verses such as “I’m finding out as I go along, that I’m not too smart and I’m always wrong. But I do believe that I’m getting stronger,” blur the line between heart-wrenching and uplifting, seeming to revel in the juxtaposition. For listeners jaded by country radio’s current parade of visceral truck, bro and beer tunes (not that we don’t all love them from time to time) the elegance and depth of the song’s narrative offers a welcome change of pace. In addition to exploring priorities, “Moving Along” examines the challenges, heartbreak and joy of coping with the evolving demands of life.
Looking ahead to the rest of Holidays & Wedding Rings, expect twelve tracks of beautiful, richly-composed and well-produced Americana, country and alt-country. Wilson is a great musician who understands that the key to success is surrounding herself with other great musicians. Those with a casual familiarity with Texas’ Americana and alt-country scene will recognize many of the album’s musical collaborators (And even those without familiarity will enjoy the results). The track “Just Some Things” was co-written and performed as a duet by Wilson and Red Dirt virtuoso Wade Bowen. Other notable musicians appearing on Holidays & Wedding Rings include Dave Abeyta, the lead guitarist for country rockers Reckless Kelly; guitar icon John Dee Graham; celebrated Texas singer/songwriter Heather Morgan and folk/country songwriter Owen Temple.
Inspired to get into music in college by watching Natalie Maines’ solos during a Dixie Chicks concert, by the time Wilson graduated she was playing and writing songs with quirky country outfit, The Sidehill Gougers (later, just The Gougers). At MusicFest 2009, Wilson found herself sharing a stage with Liz Foster, Kelley Mickwee and Savannah Welch. What was supposed to be a one-off performance quickly evolved into The Trishas (in homage to a Trisha Yearwood hit pinned by Welch’s father).
While Wilson tested the solo waters with a 2010 EP, Dirty Blonde Hair, The Trishas were also going places fast. They’ve toured with The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and Todd Snider as well as recording with Ray Wylie Hubbard, The Mavricks’ Raul Malo and Kevin Welch. The quartet’s 2010 EP, The Call Us The Trishas, was released to critical acclaim and they contributed a track to the Grammy Nominated This One’s For Him: A Tribute to Guy Clark which was also named Americana Album of the Year. The Trishas scored another success with their 2012 release of High, Wide & Hansom.
Whether in her solo work or with the Trishas, Wilson has continued to explore and develop a personal vision of music that plays with the boundaries between the incestuous yet ambivalent genres we call Americana and Country. This is well reflected in her influences, artists she calls “the greats” such as Guy Clark, Rodney Crowell, Emmylou Harris, Kris Kristofferson, John Prine, Tom T. Hall and Towns van Zandt.
For Wilson, “Moving Along” has been a step on that journey of musical evolution. She admits that, because of the subject matter, she initially felt a certain distance towards the song. “This is the oldest song on the record, and one I really didn’t identify with until the last couple years.”
