During the holiday season, while traveling with my in-laws through northern Indiana, my sister-in-law’s boyfriend, who plays drums for Annie in the Water, told me about their upcoming tour, a special series of dates where the band would be fronted by a woman named Hayley Jane and together they would play the entirety of Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours album. They called the tour, “Hayley In the Water Spread Rumours.”
I asked about Hayley Jane, and it turns out she had a successful touring band of her own, Hayley Jane & The Primates. My sister-in-law’s boyfriend pulled up Apple Music on my phone and added their latest album, 2017’s We’re Here Now, to my library.
Since then, I’ve basically listened to the album nonstop.
First, let’s talk about the fact that the folks from Annie in the Water selected Hayley Jane to be their stand-in for Stevie Nicks. The reason is simple: the woman can belt it out like it’s no one’s business.
The power of her voice can be heard on virtually every song on We’re Here Now, but it’s most prevalent on the power ballad, “Madeline.” There’s a lyric in the song where the ballad becomes a power ballad, and she sings, “If you don’t dig my roots babe, stop tugging on my vine, and if you don’t love my flavor, baby, stop licking on my thiiiiiighs, my thiiiiighs!” It’s such a great melding of lyric, voice, and guitar, and I’ve been singing it at the top of my lungs for weeks (to the great annoyance of my wife).
But Hayley Jane is more than just a powerful voice. She’s a gifted, rhythmic lyricist. The second song on the album, “Cosmic Katrina,” has a fun, mouth-melting lyric wrapped around a couple of nonsense phrases, but it all works perfectly, and it’s coupled to instrumentation changes that prevent the nonsense from becoming annoying, changing up the rhythm and the melody just enough to keep the listener interested.
The band is not just Hayley Jane, of course. The Primates are all talented musicians in their own right. Each guitar solo serves the song, rather than the guitarists’ egos; the bassist keeps every line interesting; and the drummer more than holds his own.
Unfortunately, Hayley Jane & The Primates wrote the following to their fans last Spring:
“We have made the difficult decision to go on an indefinite hiatus at the end of the summer. This band has been a joy for all involved. It has also seen it’s fair share of speed bumps and difficulties as all bands do. We have decided, as a group, that it’s time for us to take a real break and turn our focus to other things in our lives that require more attention.”
I have no inside knowledge of those speed bumps, difficulties, or “other things in our lives,” but with Hayley Jane joining Annie in the Water for the “Spread Rumours” tour, I hope she’ll keep her focus on her music. The woman has serious talent, and I look forward to appreciating what she does next.