Minneapolis soul/R&B singer Jaedyn James is busting out this summer, right on time

What a difference one weekend and one very divisive court ruling made in showing off the yin/yang onstage dynamics of singer Jaedyn James, who's in the midst of a breakout summer with ample outdoor gigs around the Upper Midwest.

At the Pryes Brewing Block Party in June, the Minneapolis native demonstrated her lively soul-rock and R&B sounds and power-preaching messaging with originals like "Push & Pull" and a deep-reaching cover of Tina Turner's "What's Love Got to Do With It."

"Tina was 44 when she released this," James, 32, reverently pointed out. "I love getting older. I feel safer and sexier in my body."

A weekend later, though, James' warm vibes turned downright heated and combative at the Twin Cities Pride festival. She went onstage mad and hungover less than 24 hours after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

Part of her onstage banter that day included opening up about sexual assault and domestic abuse she said she suffered in her youth.

"We had to cut two songs from the set, I did so much venting," she said afterward. "If you know me, you know I couldn't help it."

These steamrolling moments in James' eventful summer will culminate outside the Hook & Ladder on Friday night.

She is headlining the pre-party for the south Minneapolis venue's annual Roots, Rock & Deep Blues Festival with two other women's groups, Tabah and Superior Siren, and a mini-fest concept she devised herself: She's calling it the Witch Party, a nod to her astrological and mystical side as well as what she called "the general damnation women in America have been experiencing for centuries."

Mind you, she thought all this up before women's reproductive rights were revoked by the Supreme Court last month.

"It's kind of crappy when you realize your idea for a fun [concert] also works well with the trauma so many people are feeling at the moment," James deadpanned.

"It wasn't intended, but I think I can offer a cathartic experience for women who are suffering, knowing their control of their own bodies is being limited," she said. "A lot of my music is about taking ownership of my body and my experiences as a woman. I feel like I was meant to be doing what I'm doing right now."

James' moments in the sun as a singer this summer have been a long time coming.

Raised around northeast Minneapolis and the neighboring St. Anthony by her mom and three older sisters — "I've had strong, older women behind me my whole life," she said — listing off all the singers she grew up adoring and mimicking (ones requiring only first names): "Aretha, Alanis, Tina, Tori."

However, James didn't really start performing until she was 23. At the time, she said, she was "partying myself to death" and had something of a wakeup call.

"Singing is what I'd wanted to do my whole life, and I just knew I had to finally go for it or I'd be lost forever," she recalled.

"Since then, everything I've done, every penny I've earned, has gone into my music."

She spent five years fronting her prior group, Jaedyn James & the Hunger, which she said was more a large posse of friends than a serious band.

"In those five years, I had a lot of fun, did a lot of things wrong and some right," she said. "I sort of got my education out of [the Hunger], and then it was time to get to work."

James hit reset on her career in 2019. She broke up the Hunger and started performing under her own name with a new five-piece backing unit made of better-trained musicians. She also started writing more ambitious and personal songs.

In February 2019, they hit the recording studio to start working on James' debut solo album with Holly Hansen of Zoo Animal as co-producer. But then COVID stymied their progress. To date, the record remains unfinished, despite ample encouragement and effort by James' music director and chief collaborator, guitarist Ilan Blank.

"The pandemic was really hard on Jaedyn," said Blank, who moved to Colorado during the COVID lull.

"I think she lost some of her technical skill and her confidence from not getting to perform for so long. She gets so much of her energy from performing. So she's taking her time to gain back her momentum."

Hence all these summer gigs. Come fall, she plans to hit the studio again to finish the record and have it ready for a mid-2023 release. James also pointed out a more practical reason for the delay: "We need to make some money to pay for it, too."

They offered a taste of the album before the summer rush by releasing the Labelle-meets-Lizzo-flavored single "Push & Pull," with a gyrating music video that shows off James' vigorous and vivacious stage presence and "working-class-diva" glam outfits (which she designs herself).

Other new songs being worked up for the record include the romantic slow jam "You Are the Man for Me," the stormy builder "Loving You So Hard" and the anthemic rouser "Do It for Her." The latter tune, she said, "is dedicated to myself, a reminder of who I'm doing this all for."

While still discernibly bummed by the COVID lull, James is looking at the bright side of her album's slow progress.

"It's my first record under my own name, so I want to take my time and get it right," she said.

And as last month's two divergent performances showed, she's still shaping and reshaping her act to keep up with the changing times.

"I'm still a work in progress," James said, harking back to what she said about Turner at the Pryes party. "I really do believe I'm getting better and stronger with age."

With: Tabah, Superior Siren.

When: 7 p.m. Fri.

Where: Hook & Ladder (outdoors), 3010 Minnehaha Av. S., Mpls.

Tickets: $15-$20, thehookmpls.com

Online: jaedynjames.com