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Wyatt has reason to "Feel Good"

The Sinclair, Cambridge, Mass., February 6, 2024

Reviewed by Jeffrey B. Remz

Jaime Wyatt must have a good reason to be optimistic. After all, why would the country singer call her latest release, "Feel Good"?

The disc, which merges country and sometimes Stax-styled soulful tunes, is the focal point of her headlining tour. In fact, about half of the songs played during the generous 1 �-hour show came from "Feel Good."

Wyatt started off with the title track, which would have been more effective mid-show as the deliberate number was not exactly a rousing starter with Wyatt on keyboards. But Wyatt quickly took off from there with songs like "Rattlesnake Girl" (a catchy song about being gay, which Wyatt is) and "Back to the Country."

Wyatt switched gears a bit with her extended cover of the Grateful Dead's "Althea." She would do so again with several solo songs, including a strong take on "Giving Back the Best of Me."

And her delivery only grew from there with good takes on "Neon Cross" and the rousing decidedly pro-environmental "World Worth Keeping." You just don't hear songs with lines like "take a look around you, there's a world worth keeping." Wyatt, a lower-key sort for much of the evening, wore her passion on her sleeve.

Guitarist Trey Binkley was monster in song after song. A confident player, he added a lot of meaningful runs, sometimes on slide t alter the sonics. His playing was effortless, although he was prone by night's end to showboat, too, as evidenced by playing with his teeth on two songs and holding his guitar aloft behind him as well. But give the guy credit. He can flat out play.

This was not the tightest band going as the band is less than six months old. There were a few slight gaps between several songs, which stilted the momentum somewhat. Fortunately, none of this was enough to damage the overall impression left by Wyatt.

Wyatt has had her ups and definitive downs in life (she freely acknowledged spending time in jail for robbing her drug dealer, but, fortunately, that was a lifetime ago for the likable singer). The ups seem going in favor because was a lot to feel good about tonight.

Joshua Quimby, a Nashville-based-by-way-of-Connecticut singer, impressed in his opening stint. The 22-year-old has an extremely whiskey-soaked, scuffed up voice. It's on the rough side and perhaps an acquired taste for some. Despite his youthfulness, he has an ample amount of quality material. A cover of Colter Wall's "The Devil Wears a Suit and Tie" was a fine choice as well. Quimby hews to a country sound, although he threw a blues number in there as well, which made sense.

Quimby also was helped immensely by his two band mates – Zach Bunton on fiddle and Miles Burger on guitar. Quimby smartly gave both ample space to shine, and they never failed to step up and make musical statements with their playing.

With outings like this, Quimby showcased himself as an artist to keep an eye on.



©Country Standard Time • Jeffrey B. Remz, editor & publisher • countrystandardtime@gmail.com
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