When Jamie O’Neal had her first big hit with her debut single, “There Is No Arizona,” in 2000, female artists were still being regularly played on country radio. But in the past decade, the trend in country music has leaned much more towards male artists, leaving female singers at a disadvantage. Thankfully, the tide seems to be changing, leaving Jamie and others, optimistic about their future in country music.

“People want to hear from everybody,” Jamie told Everything Nash. “It’s not that the females didn’t want to be heard. It was a trend. I feel that way. When I came out, there were more females than males. There was Jo Dee Messina, Jessica Andrews, Faith Hill, Martina, Sara, LeAnn Rimes. The list goes on. I’m sure I’m forgetting a lot. It goes in waves. There was a wave it was definitely male-driven. But I think that’s definitely changing.”

Unlike some female artists, Jamie didn’t feel the need to be vocal about pushing for more music by female artists on country music.

“I’m more comfortable with looking at it like, I don’t see gender. I think great talent will prevail. I mean, there are some times when I’m like, ‘I don’t know why that person didn’t make it.’ But great songs will rise up … There are a lot of females making good music right now. I don’t know that we really have much room to complain.”

Jamie is also back with new music. The Australian-born singer just released “Wreck Me.” The song is from her upcoming Sometimes album. The record includes both new songs and reimagined forms of some of her classic hits, including “There Is No Arizona” and “Somebody’s Hero.”

“I just picked the most popular ones that everybody knows,” Jamie said of her new set of tunes. “I have a couple of others that I probably could have done, and I’ll do those down the road.  I want to do some recordings of songs I’ve had cut by outside artists as well. I picked the ones that I love and that everybody seems to really connect with.”

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Adkins Publicity / Angela Talley