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We caught up with Joshua Scott Jones, formerly of the duo Steel Magnolia, at the 2014 CMA Fest in Nashville. He was looking exhausted, which is to be expected when you’re working on promoting your debut solo album released the same week as CMA Fest! Check out what he had to say!
Q. You must be exhausted! What’s it been like being out on the road promoting your solo debut album?
A. It’s been awesome. It’s a dream come true, it’s been a long time coming, and I’ve had a lot to say…a lot of music, and it’s taken too long, it felt like, to get this thing out. So, I’m glad that it’s here and I’m ready to do it, ready for another push, and take Steel Magnolia fans into the next chapter of my career, and gain a whole new audience of fans.
Q. The Healing is the title of the album, which is a great title considering all that you’ve had to go through to get to this point. Tell us about the thought process in choosing that for the album’s title.
A. Well it’s funny, the song just kinda came together, “The Healing.” I was driving down 65 through Brentwood, and I just felt compelled to start writing these phrases and this melody came to me. I pulled over as I was driving, and just got out my recording device on my phone and started humming that into this…it kinda felt like a Johnny Cash song to me, and ya know, I got the piano and kinda finished it off there. And the song is called “The Healing,” it’s really powerful and it’s kinda a hymn, kinda like a church hymn type of thing, and originally the album was going to be called Tennessee Blue, I thought that sounded cool…but that’s the third track on the record. But ya know, after it was all compiled and everything went together, it’s a concept record over what I’ve been through kind of over the past few years in my life up to now, it felt like there was a healing going on with me and my life, and so it made sense to call the record that, so that’s what we went with and that’s where we are.
Q. You’re new single, “Honk (If You’re Tonky),” how’s the feedback been from radio and the fans?
A. The feedback is awesome on it. It almost feels like a slow burn right now, because we don’t…it’s new, but I think it’s starting to catch on. The feedback has been all thumbs up on it, so it’s been really exciting. It’s an anthem for guys, or girls really, just about being a little rough around the edges but havin’ a big heart, at the same time kinda not being afraid to be yourself, and I think everybody can relate to that.
Q. How would you best describe the music on the album as an overall experience listening to it?
A. I think it’s a little different. It’s a little different, but it’s all the same on the record. I feel like it’s my sound, my style, and ya know, it’s…like the single “Honk (If You’re Tonky),” ya get the feel of a little Dwight Yoakam and Bruce Springsteen, and Garth Brooks. It’s just kinda…it’s very eclectic I think, but it’s still got continuity to it.
Q. Are those some of the guys that you looked up to as you were growing up?
A. Yeah. Waylon Jennings too…there’s a tribute to him on there called “Lover Let Me Show You My Heart.” It’s not a tribute TO him, but I basically emulated the song “Sweet Dream Woman” when I produced it and it sounds a lot like an old Waylon track.
Q. Outside of music, what is something that you are very passionate about?
A. I love cooking, I love food. I love cooking. I like havin’ fun, I like traveling and being outdoors. Ya know, I need to start fishing more, I used to fish a lot, growing up I fished all the time. But I haven’t been fishing in years, and it’s like “I need to get back into it.”
Q. Cooking…you’ve never had any Chris Young-type accidents, right?
A. What happened? (We explained to him how Chris Young had cut his hand while cooking, which led to him having to cancel his autograph signing and LP Field performance later that night). I heard about something…cooking? (he turns to publicist) “There’s an opening, call Jeff!” (laughs)
Q. What’s been the biggest Wow moment of your career?
A. It’s funny. As a kid, my aunt was always telling me that she wanted to get me on the David Letterman show, and so I had this little fake guitar, and I’d sing this song called “The Corner Grocery Store,” that I learned in school when I was probably six or seven years old, if even…probably five or six years old, and she told me that she sent a letter into David Letterman to see if I can get on the show, and I believed her. Thought that, “Wow,” ya know, I really thought in my mind that I might really have a chance to be on the David Letterman show. And so, years later passed, I ended up playing on the Late Show with David Letterman. And I remember when he was introducing us, looking over and remembering that from being four or five years old and thinking that I really thought that I was going to be on the show, and then it happened. And I remember right before he was announcing us that it was really surreal to me. It felt like a moment where I was like, in the Twilight Zone.
Q. What is the #1 item on your Bucket List?
A. To play LP Field in place of Chris Young tonight. (laughs). No, the one thing on my Bucket List that I haven’t done? I want to run a triathlon. I always told myself that I’d do it by the time I was such a certain age.
Q. Do you remember the first time you heard yourself on the radio, and what was that like?
A. Yeah, it was really cool. It was kinda a let down though, ya know it’s like…not a let down…but it’s…it was back in my hometown and I was trying to get played, and it was really exciting, but then after it’s over, nothing happened (laughs).
Q. What are your thoughts on the state of today’s Country Music, with Bro-Country taking over?
A. Starting to take over? There’s no starting about it, I think it’s been going that way…I think it will shift. I think it’s cool, I think if you do it the right way there’s nothing wrong with it. I think Florida Georgia Line hit it right on the head. I think that’s why they’re so successful. I like them.
Q. What advice would you give to an aspiring artist trying to make it in the music business?
A. I would say to an aspiring artist…to follow your gut instincts, with anything you do probably, because you’re right, you’re hardwired to have those gut feelings for a reason, and then I would think to continue to listen to as much music as you can, make your own style, and eventually when you get to the point, people will start coming to you. Continue to show up, because it’s people who keep showing up who eventually beat the door down.
photo credit: Stella Parton’s Facebook Page
We had a chance to sit down with Stella Parton during the 2014 CMA Fest in Nashville. Check out what she had to say in what turned out to be a wonderfully honest and engaging interview!
Q. What projects are you working on right now?
A. Actually, I’ve got a brand new dance album out called Resurrection. It’s a lot of older hits, some new songs that we’ve remixed for dance clubs, and so, I’ve had a lot of fun with it, we’re calling it Resurrection; you can find that on StellaParton.com and listen to some samples of it, we’ve got a couple of videos of me performing some of it. It’s been a lot of fun because I don’t dress up like myself, I dress up like in character and just kinda do different characters, depending on the club I’m working in, and I’m working on an album of archival music that I’ve rediscovered in my archives, and it’s going to be called Buried Treasures, and there’s gonna be some really special songs that were produced by a very special person, who is no longer with us, that will be on this project, and it will be called Buried Treasures. So I’m very excited about that, we’re working on a tour for Australia and New Zealand for next year, and The Red Tent Conference was very successful, and we’ll be taking that over a week before the tour starts to Australia and New Zealand, and I’ll be doing speaking engagements before the concert tour begins, and it’s going to be our Red Tent Conference over there, so we’re launching that in Australia and New Zealand, so I’m real happy about that. And…also being considered for a reoccurring role in a new Fox TV pilot called The Sparrows, and I’m supposed to be on the soundtrack, so that’s an exciting prospect right there, so we’ll see how that all works out.
Q. Outside of music, what is something that you are very passionate about?
A. Cookin’…Reading…I love to cook for my friends and family and it’s just a way that I feel like I can…it’s therapy for me, I love to get in the kitchen and not think about things and just create new recipes and nurture people that I care about that way.
Q. What’s been the biggest “Wow” moment of your career?
A. I think I’m still waiting for the next “Wow!” I think every day I wake up and do something is like a “Wow” moment. Today was a “Wow” moment for me when one of the interviewers shared with me that my book had changed the life of two women that he knew, and I thought, “Well, I’m still doing something right!” And that’s all you want to do, is get information like that, get that kind of feedback so you know you that you’re on the right track that you’re not just…it’s not just about yourself, it’s about what you…taking the opportunities you have and sharing that with others and embellishing other peoples lives right along with your own.
Q. Do you remember the first time you heard yourself on the radio and what was your reaction like?
A. It was pretty cool! (laughs) It was really cool! I think I was probably about 10 or 11 years old! Singing on my uncle Bill’s rockabilly records with my sister’s Dolly and Cassie, and we were backup singers, and we sounded like Alvin and the Chipmunks, but we were so excited with ourselves, we didn’t realize (laughing) we sounded like Alvin and the Chipmunks, it was like “Oh we’re on the radio!” Aaah, we still sound like Alvin and the Chipmunks, don’t we a little bit (laughing)? But it was pretty fun!
Q. If you weren’t doing music for a career, what would you be doing?
A. I think that what I wanted to be was a Missionary, and probably I would’ve gone on and gotten a degree in Social Work, ya know, I would’ve been a Social Worker or a Missionary of some sort but in a way I feel like I’ve been that through my music. I’ve been able to do that missionary work, I continue to do that with the conferences and with the book writing, and just trying to be a positive influence and make people laugh and think and cry when I’m on stage. I love to see a song a song that I’m performing, that I’m interpreting a lyric that has so much passion in it that people have tears on their face during the song, and I love to say somethin’ that makes people laugh and have an entire audience rolling in laughter. I mean, that’s really powerful! And so to me it lets me know that I’m in the saddle of my life, it’s like I’m really in the pocket.
Q. Did you ever pass up on recording a song that went on to be a hit for someone else?
A. Yeah but I’m not gonna talk about it! (laughs) ‘Cause sometimes you just don’t like certain songs and I’ve got a couple of hits that I don’t really…I didn’t like the songs…still don’t like ’em but I still have to do them every show. And I don’t tell people, “I don’t like that song!” You do get sick of some of them and it’s ironic that you’re biggest records are your least favorite songs that you’ve recorded, for me anyway. But the way you keep your show fresh is by inserting new songs, new arrangements on some of the older songs, and just kinda recreate it as a new arrangement, and then it becomes a whole new piece of work.
Q. What’s the #1 item on your Bucket List?
A. #1 item on my bucket list would probably be still to jump out of an airplane…with a parachute of course! (laughs) Yeah I still wanna do that! I think I’ll probably try that this year. I’ve been trying to get that done since I was 40 and every time I would try to do it…if I don’t get it done pretty soon, I’ll be so old I’ll be like George Bush trying to jump out of a plane, so I’m a gonna do it pretty soon!
Q. What are your thoughts on the state of today’s country music?
A. Well, I think it’s alright. I think today’s country music is not the country music that was during the height of my career, but I don’t like to criticize people. And I don’t like to criticize where life is going, I don’t like to say, “wellll, ya know…that happened and this happened.” I don’t feel that that’s, as an artist that we have a right to do that. I think that we should just be authentic, stand in our own integrity, and let everybody else do what they need to do. At the same time, I don’t appreciate it when younger artists refer to some of us as “old farts” and stuff like that, and that was a biig insult to some of us…my generation would NEVER have done that to the older generation, so I think some of the newer generation needs to stop being so arrogant and cocky, but I think life will take care of them just in time… they’ll humble themselves. Life has a way of leveling the playing field, doesn’t it?
Q. What advice would you give to an aspiring artist trying to make it in the music business?
A. The advice I always give to an aspiring artist is to work hard, to believe in yourself, believe you have a right to your dreams, everyone else has a right to their dreams, and so do you…and don’t think you’re so good that you shouldn’t take any opportunity that’s presented. If you’re trying to promote yourself, take any job. Don’t worry if the band is perfect, don’t worry if the sound is perfect, don’t worry if you like the promoter…if you get a chance to work in front of an audience, don’t be cranky. Just get out there and do it. Don’t wait for the perfect situation, just get your butt out there and work! You never know who is out there in the audience.