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JIMBEAU HINSON
Strong Medicine

So much more than simply the culmination of his lifelong musical dreams, Strong Medicine, singer/songwriter Jimbeau Hinson's highly anticipated debut on Wrinkled Records, is the poignant, heartfelt and inspirational story of his life. Showcasing the veteran country hitmaker's edgy yet intimate vocals, hard-hitting, poetic lyrics, and pop, rock, folk and blues influences, the multi-faceted 11-track collection features songs that run the gamut of emotions--resolve in the face of life's toughest challenges, forgiveness, love, emotional and physical survival, the importance of monogamy, and fortitude. Hinson began penning these pieces as part of his emotional therapy, but over the course of several decades, the project has blossomed into a deeply felt universal expression of hope.

Happily married to his wife Brenda for 30 years, Hinson—renowned for writing hits for Brenda Lee, Patti Loveless, Steve Earle and the Oak Ridge Boys--is unabashed about sharing the realities of a formerly bisexual lifestyle which resulted in his being diagnosed as HIV positive. It was a truth kept painfully secret for personal and professional reasons for many years. He wrote two of Strong Medicine's most powerful tracks, the feisty blues-rock title track and the feisty rocker "Scratch," in the mid-80s, before he knew that AIDS was a sexually transmitted disease. At that time, he felt "the only medicine around was love -- and this is still the strongest one that there is." He wrote "Scratch" when he had tested positive. "I cut out extracurricular sexual activities, and committed 100% to my wife," he says. "The minute that you don't want to live anymore is the minute you start to die."

That philosophy proved prescient a decade later, in 1996, when Hinson experienced life's ultimate wake-up call—a near death experience, which he later learned was due to the amount of anti-HIV drugs he was taking causing his organs to shut down. It happened during a peak in his career, after "Party Crowd," the Top 10 Country hit he co-wrote with artist David Lee Murphy, was named the "Most Played Country Song" of 1995.
Experiencing a warm, enlightening taste of the hereafter—what he calls "The All of Everything"—proved the ultimate life-changing experience.

In line with the concept of "Stones," which chronicles the passage of time via life's key moments, many of the album's tunes emerged from important milestones along his journey. Hinson wrote "Oh No Not You Again" after he found out he was HIV-positive; the song disguises this as a relationship which would not go away. The country-folk flavored ballad "Distant Vision" finds him pondering the larger, eternal picture after watching his best friend waste away. Perhaps the most hopeful song is the gospel flavored "Now," a plea to live in the moment and enjoy the time we have.

"I have stood out as a songwriter and artist because I just cut to the chase," says Hinson. "I write about things that are in my life. I don't dodge the bullet to write polite little songs. I write about life."