Jamie O'Neal's gift is her passion for life and for music. She writes songs with heart and intelligence, delivering them with casual elegance in what one critic described as "a Ferrari of a voice."
Exploding onto the country music scene with the devastating end-of-love song, "There Is No Arizona," she set a high standard for herself as both songwriter and singer. Her new album, Brave, more than builds on that promise, as O'Neal confirms her strengths as a singer's singer, but also makes impressive strides as a songwriter, co-writing nine of the record's 11 songs. Sonically, she draws from her eclectic musical tastes, with songs that run from showcase ballads to swampy Southern rock. Lyrically, she explores struggle, family, womanhood and spirituality displaying a deep understanding of both the peaks and valleys that accompany a life fully lived.
Much of the more mature perspective heard in the new songs emerged after she gave birth to her first child, daughter, Aliyah in June 2003. "Nearly everything changed once I became a mother - the way I felt about life and the way I looked at different things," she says. "My writing has definitely changed, so a lot of my songs are geared toward the emotions of being a parent and raising a family and just looking at the world through a parent's eyes."
O'Neal naturally poured her new rush of emotions into music, anxious for the moment when she could share these new songs/feelings with her fans. A born performer, she lived most of her life as a road warrior, singing with her family's band from the age of eight. Her New Zealand-born father, Jimmy Murphy (who co-wrote "Girlfriends" on the new album), met Jamie's mother, Julie, performing on Australian Bandstand, and the couple formed their own act. The duo expanded when Jamie and her younger sister Samantha became old enough to sing.
The family toured incessantly, living in a variety of locations,including Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Louisville and Nashville. That made it difficult to form long-lasting friendships during her youth, but it also cemented an appreciation for the entertainer's nomadic lifestyle.
"I'm kind of a restless spirit," Jamie assesses. "Even now, living in Nashville and having our own home is fantastic, but I also think, 'I'd love to go live in Colorado or Montana or somewhere, experience that." I'm always thinking of the next place or the next experience."
One of the most important experiences of her youth was the chance to open and perform on the same stage as such significant performers as Johnny Cash, Crystal Gayle and Dolly Parton.
"I would stand at the side of the stage and watch their whole show over and over again, and I just always knew what I wanted to do," Jamie recalls. "I knew that one day, hopefully, I'd be up there on the stage singing my own songs, and especially with Dolly Parton, because she wrote everything. When I was 10 and 12 years old, that just meant so much to me that she could go out there and tell her stories and people loved to hear them because they were real."
After living in Nashville twice before, the third time was the charm. Jamie moved to Music City for good in 1996, quickly establishing herself as a standout in the city's bountiful creative community. She landed songs on albums by LeAnn Rimes and Chely Wright, and sang the demos for several titles that would become major hits for other artists, including Faith Hill's "This Kiss" and Reba McEntire's "So Good Together."