Jaimi Shuey

Artist Information

Biography

Born in Pomona, California and raised in Eugene, Oregon Jaimi grew up in an environment awash in music and art. “There was always music playing in the morning before school, Dan Fogelberg or The Beatles or Jerry Jeff Walker.” There were violin lessons and many nights at The WOW Hall and house parties with family and friends soaking up the vibrant local music scene.

Jaimi landed in Los Angeles at 19, singing in blues bands and eventually forming a traditional jazz trio called Patti O’Dining. Sometime in the late 1990’s Jaimi picked up a guitar and started to write her own songs. Armed with three chords and a Martin, Jaimi was naturally attracted to traditional country music, and her songwriting wholeheartedly embraces this newfound love along with her old flames jazz and blues.

Performing at the Cinema Bar in Culver City, local musician Mike Baker heard Jaimi and introduced her to producer Charlie McGovern (Ramsay Midwood, Mike Stinson, Tony Gilkyson). Charlie loved the songs and they got right to work on the record. “We kept the recording real stripped down,” says Charlie. “No layered guitars, no backing vocals, just Jaimi fronting a tough band.”

“Wrong Girl” features performances from drummer Don Heffington (Bob Dylan, Lucinda Williams, Lone Justice), John McDuffie (Rita Coolidge) on electric guitars and pedal steel and Mike Baker on bass. Songwriter and recording artist Kip Boardman drops in on piano and Wurlitzer while Danny McGough (Tom Waits, Social Distortion) adds the Chamberlain, Hammond, Vox & Pump Organs to round out this stunning debut. John Nowland (Neil Young, Jewel) mastered the record at Broken Arrow Ranch.

This album is a collection of stories and daydreams about love lost, found and not returned. The title track “Wrong Girl” is a classic example of the poignant scenes displayed in Jaimi’s songs. Her unique, sometimes melancholy, sometimes holy voice brings the characters in these tales to life. Great songs, gifted musicians and raw, unfussy production continue to be the hallmark of Boronda Records and “Wrong Girl” no exception.

One forth of July in Eugene, when Jaimi was kid, the apartment caught on fire. In the thick smoke, Jaimi managed to hear her mother yell, "forget the photos, grab the records!" Good thing she did because The Rolling Stones, Emmylou Harris, Aretha Franklin, Janis Joplin, Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt provided her with a steady diet of inspiration. Since moving to Southern California, Jaimi's priorities haven't changed--the first things she'd save would be her Martin HD-28 and her stack of notebooks filled with her songs.

Instrumentation

On The Album Wrong Girl:
Jaimi Shuey - Accoustic Guitar, Vocals
Jon McDuffie - Guitars, Pedal Steel
Don Heffington - Drums, Harmonica
Mike Baker - Bass
Danny McGough - Keyboard, Chamberlain
Kip Boardman - Piano

Discography

Wrong Girl - 2007 (Boronda Records)

Wrong Girl, How Long, Poison Kisses and Ouija get play on Radio and Internet Radio worldwide (especially Australia, The UK, The Netherlands and US)

Official Website

http://www.jaimishuey.com

Links

• Facebook
• MySpace
• Twitter

Audio

• Wrong Girl
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• Ouija
  Listen  
• Poison Kisses
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• Wild Things
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• How Long
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• Emanuel
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• Judgement Day
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• Christmastime Blues
  Listen  

Lyrics

• Wrong Girl
• Poison Kisses
• Ouija
• Wild Things
• How Long
• Emanuel
• Judgement Day
• Christmastime Blues

Video

12.29.07 - Safari Sam's clip

Photo Gallery

Press

• No Depression - Waxed Review [+ Show ]
  

  It’s the achy twang in Jaimi Shuey’s inviting voice that immediately captures your attention. You f...It’s the achy twang in Jaimi Shuey’s inviting voice that immediately captures your attention. You feel her yearning for love in “How Long”, sympathize with her hurt in “The Wrong Girl”, and share her sense of adventure in “Wild Things”. That strong opening trio invites comparisons to a young Lucinda Williams. But just when you think Shuey is headed off down gravel roads, she shifts gears with the stylish, jazz flavored “Ouija”, a tune reminiscent of another southern California chanteuse, Eleni Mandell. The latter half of her ten track debut swings confidently between dusty honky-tonk and more sophisticated lounge. On “Country Girl” and “Jerkwatertown”, she offers evocative portraits of small town girls, while “A Bite” is a fun, food-equals-sex ditty about “a hungry girl.” A memorable debut, Wrong Girl proves Shuey has the right stuff.
  -Michael Berick
  

• 3rd Coast Magazine - March 2008 [+ Show ]
  

  This slipped through the cracks when it was released late 2006. I knew I liked it, but I couldn’t f...This slipped through the cracks when it was released late 2006. I knew I liked it, but I couldn’t figure out why, put it aside meaning to come back to it later and, well, you know how that goes. Calling it a problem would be going too far, but listening to the ten individual tracks, all originals, I found myself thinking on this one Shuey writes very like and sounds a bit like, Lucinda Williams, on the next like Iris Dement, on the next like Loretta Lynn, while Ouija, about going too far on a first date, and Oblivion have a Nina Simone-ish torch cabaret jazz feel. Not that any of this is cause for complaint, on the contrary, but the first impression you get is that she’s a bit of a chameleon. However, when you consider the album as a whole, it’s clear that, while she still wears her influences, most of whom are pretty much out of the picture these days, on her sleeve, this LA based "Country Girl from the big city" has her own distinctive talent. Beautifully produced by Charlie McGovern at his Big ’Ol Studio, and featuring Don Heffington drums/harmonica and Kip Boardman piano/Wurlitzer, Wrong Girl may well sound like a warm up as and when Shuey makes her second album, but until then it’s as impressive a debut, in it’s field, as any since Infamous Angel. - John Conquest

• Sunday, May 6, 2007 - Music Pick of The Week [+ Show ]
  

  Jaimi Shuey at the Echo “I spent most of my teenage years in coffeehouses writing poetry, drinkin...Jaimi Shuey at the Echo
  
  “I spent most of my teenage years in coffeehouses writing poetry, drinking buckets of coffee, daydreaming and making up stories about the people that came in from out of the rain,” Jaimi Shuey says about growing up. Those made-up stories have been turned into gently lulling country-pop tunes on her new CD, Wrong Girl (Boronda Records). On “Country Girl,” the L.A. singer laments that she doesn’t know how to rope a steer or have genuine Southern roots, but John McDuffie absolves her with a slide of his rootsy pedal-steel guitar. She admits to being jealous about a lover’s engagement on the country weeper “Wrong Girl,” and is itchin’ to head out West and escape a “Jerkwater Town.” Drummer Don Heffington (Lone Justice, Emmylou Harris) scratches a downbeat groove on the jazzy idyll “Ouija,” where Shuey asks the magic board why her boyfriend won’t call her back: “Did I go too far?/Am I slutty, am I pretty, am I smart?” Fans of non-cornpone-prone country music should be grateful that Shuey’s so memorably unlucky in love. This free show starts at 5 p.m. (Falling James)
  

• May 2007 - Geraint J. Review [+ Show ]
  

  Impressive debut set from the itinerant Jaimi Shuey - she moved from Southern California to the Paci...Impressive debut set from the itinerant Jaimi Shuey - she moved from Southern California to the Pacific Northwest in her youth, although she’s now seemingly returned to her roots, given the album was recorded back in California. Gifted with a distinctive frayed around the edges quality to her voice, that imbues these occasionally blues and jazz-inflected takes on rootsy-Americana with an unforgettably soulful honesty, Jaimi Shuey evocative songs make quite an impact. Backed-up by a fine band that melds the likes of Don Heffington on drums and Kip Boardman on piano (whose own solo albums are well worth seeking out), Wrong Girl sounds right to me. Deny the everlasting pleasure of ‘Ouija’s sultry nightclub allure or the more traditional honky-tonk of ‘Country Girl’ at your peril.
  Geraint J.
  

Setlist

Varies - here's the list of originals I'll chose from:

Poison Kisses
Wild Things
How Long
Emanuel
High Flyer
Wrong Girl
Let’s Go
Coastal Eddy
Fall In Love
Jerkawatertown
Country Girl
Ouija
Back Door
Paradise
Gasoline
Blow Your House Down
Up On Me
Steady Man
On My Way
Now That He's Gone
Paris
Bye Bye
Judgement Day
Another Life

Basic Requirements

Calendar