Country music has increasingly become more ‘pop’ sounding the past few years and has seen Taylor Swift explode because of this with her pop/country ruminations on Teenage life and love. Mercury/Island Records hasn’t ever really broken an artist in a country context and that has them releasing Jessie James’ debut album in an interesting way, by marketing it to pop first and country audiences second. Now, make no mistake about this record, other than the fact that James co-wrote and recorded the album in Nashville and liberally uses banjo, fiddle and steel guitar on some tracks, there’s nothing that’s really remotely country about “Jessie James.” All of that being said, that doesn’t mean this record doesn’t have its moments as a pop record and much like how Katy Perry (who wrote a lot of her record with Nashville writers) became a star with an off-beat persona, Jessie James, as pretty as she is, is following the same path.
This is actually not far off sonically from the ‘country’ album Jessica Simpson released last year but Jessie James is light-years better vocally and while there is some audio compression and pro-tools-assisted auto-tune present, as far as pop albums go, “Jessie James” is a nice record. The first single “Wanted,” which American Idol’s Kara DioGuardi co-wrote with James and song producers Mitch Allan and David Hodges, is fun, catchy and just the kind of pop song that won’t make you turn off the radio dial. Katy Perry’s co-write “Bullet” might feature a banjo loop but the song likely isn’t about to gain country airplay as the song, with lyrics like “is that a gun in your pocket or are you happy to see me,” is not ‘family-friendly’ but the song is still fun in it’s own Sheryl Crow-meets-Christina Aguilera way.
The first song on “Jessie James” that feels like something country radio is the ballad “Burnin’ Bridges.” It’s a song that feels as if it could’ve been on any of Carrie Underwood or Kellie Pickler’s records. It’s a pop-leaning acoustic-based ballad about a woman who doesn’t really want to ‘burn bridges’ and proclaims that why she is the way she is. Jessie co-wrote “My Cowboy” with Randy Houser and Jamey Johnson (this is sure to get traditionalists talkin’), and while the song features a heavy dose of banjo and country lyrics that really give fans an idea of what Christina Aguilera might sound like if she recorded a country sounding song.
Yes, this record is about as country as Alan Jackson is pop but that doesn’t mean that the record doesn’t work as a true pop record. “Jessie James” does showcase a talented vocalist who could, in the future, deliver a record not unlike what is released by people like Underwood, Pickler and other pop-leaning country artists. She’s a unique enough talent, despite her real similarities to other artists, to recommend this album to anyone (probably under 30) who’s willing to look beyond genre definitions or who already is at least a little bit interested in pop music.
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