American Songwriter: 2019 Americanafest Review

— Lynne Margolis

Jaimee Harris — In her first official AmericanaFest showcase, rising singer-songwriter Harris sang about being in love, aired her demons in songs about depression and substance abuse, and generally walked it liked she talked it, expressing her views about socio-political issues during a week in which it seemed not enough people were.

Noting she visited a Tulsa women’s recovery center after celebrating the Woody Guthrie Center’s sixth anniversary in April, Harris said, “I really feel that we have a problem in this country with locking addicts up instead of helping ‘em. I think that’s bullshit.”

Surrounded by a tight band of musical friends including her former Austin roommate, Jane Ellen Bryant, Harris truly invoked Woody’s spirit — and that of her mentor, the late Jimmy LaFave — as she sang “Snow White Knuckles” and other deeply affecting tunes from her Red Rescue album, plus new ones not yet recorded. Now living in Nashville, the Waco, Texas, native is definitely one to watch.