Last week, Graeme Tait picked Marty Stuart’s ‘This One’s Gonna Hurt You (For A Long Long Time)’, so this week, I thought another song about hurting was in order – which is, admittedly not something the americana world has a shortage of – so I went with ‘Hurt So Bad’ by the fantastic Jaime Wyatt featuring, and produced by, Shooter Jennings.
Californian native Wyatt’s road to country music has been longer than most, in large part due to addiction, prison and getting clean. ‘Hurt So Bad’ comes from her second full-length album, 2020’s ‘Neon Cross’ and it’s a heck of a tune f rom one heck of an album. “When I was born they should’ve warned me / And I would have turned my ass around,” Wyatt bemoans on the opening, belting in her gravely, defiant delivery. “Why does it hurt so bad? / I lost the best I never had,” she asks on the chorus, knowing it’s sometimes harder to be haunted by what you never had than what you lost.
It may “hurt so bad” for Wyatt, but for the listener at least, it hurts in the best way.
