BAILEY JAMES

                                                              "Don't Need Ya" 

                                                              Heart Songs Music Group

So many times, we find that independent artists find a style that suits them and then they comfortably place themselves inside the four walls of the proverbial box to run with that sound while hoping the right people notice. 

Bailey James is the polar opposite of this notion.

Walking a gamut of styles and swerving outside of any normal comfort zone and preconceived notions that you may have placed on her, she certainly brings us through elements of country, but often mashes those influences into blues overtones, jazz ideals, and at times, even goes completely out of those genre lines to deliver a grungy alternative kissed edge.

The static sound of a needle working in the groove of a vinyl record as her new song “Don’t Need Ya” begins, immediately adds a vintage flare to the song as we see her dipping back into a bluesy jazz tilt akin to what we heard on “Finally Free,” while skillfully expanding on it by lifting into feel-good territory that grips you with an insatiable melody that allows all the proper amount of room to pack her powerful voice into the spotlight of the break-up anthem.

Written and produced by Nolan Neal Seals, who the music industry recently lost, the simple acoustic instrumentation of the opening verse allows James to kiss the song with attitude as she calls an ex to tell him that she’s found his old Pink Floyd t-shirt and it’s in the box on the front porch for him to come and pick up.

Continuing with an over you sass to her tone, she issues stark warnings to him leading into each chorus as she tells him over a bop around feel-good vibe that she isn’t going to hear him if he knocks on her door and that if he calls, she won’t be answering “Cause right now I don’t need ya!” 

With a confident embrace to her antagonist spunk, Bailey James stamps her foot down and says to her ex, I’m better off without you and I’m truly happy you’re gone throughout this kiss-off anthem. 

Most importantly, though, James continues to show that her approach to an array of styles and refusal to conform has helped her not only deliver songs that come from a place of pure honest emotion, but they give her a feel and sound that can’t truly be label as anything other than uniquely Bailey James as she intriguingly keeps the listener anticipating what comes next from song to song.

(Review Written By: Jeffrey Kurtis)

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