Diana Jones (singer-songwriter)
Encyclopedia
Diana Jones is an American
singer-songwriter
based in Nashville, Tennessee
. Jones's career gained wider critical acclaim in 2006 with the release of her album, My Remembrance of You
. The album made a number of critics end-of-the-year "best of" lists. The Chicago Tribune
rated the album as the "best country recording of 2006" and described Jones as "an Americana gem", whose sound rides "an old-timey vibe that never sounds fussy, ... in a voice subtly shaded by the high lonesome sound."
Jones has also won a number of songwriting competitions including the venerable "New Folk" competition at the 2006 Kerrville Folk Festival
. Her song "Pony" was nominated as "Song of the Year" by the North American Folk Alliance, and Jones herself was nominated as "Emerging Artist of the Year" for 2006.
. She was first drawn to country music
in the early 1980s while attending high school on Long Island
. While her peers were listening to Michael Jackson
, Kenny Loggins
and Prince
she began to seek out recordings by Johnny Cash
and Patsy Cline
.
She was also drawn to contemporary acts like Dolly Parton
and Emmylou Harris
.
After graduating from college Jones was reunited with her birth family in eastern Tennessee
. It was there that she also gained a sense of her musical heritage when she discovered her grandfather, Robert Lee Maranville, was a talented singer and had been in a Knoxville
band with Chet Atkins
. "I found my first Smithsonian Folkways
recording of Southern ballads up at Cades Cove
in the Smokies
on a drive with him", Jones explained to the Columbus Dispatch. "I put it in the CD player, and he started singing along and tapping his finger on his leg. He knew all those songs...I felt like I had discovered the source of what I had been trying to find musically."
In the 1990s Jones continued to develop as a writer and performer in the music scene
around Austin, Texas
She released two albums, signed a deal with Hamstein Publishing, and began to develop a grass roots following.
It was the death of Maranville in 2000 that caused her to move back to the northeastern United States and enter a period of personal reflection: "I wrote this last project [My Remembrance of You] in a cabin in the woods, trying to recover my balance after the loss of my grandfather. I was writing songs because I had to, for myself."
Two years later, Jones followed-up with The One That Got Away.
Jones really caught the attention of folk music fans when she re-emerged with My Remembrance of You. The album was released March 12, 2006. It was dedicated to her late grandfather while also paying tribute to producer and archivist Alan Lomax
. It was the first recording on the NewSong Recordings label, an outgrowth of the Mountain Stage
NewSong Festival.
The recording almost immediately received high praise from critics. The collection of eleven original songs have been described as "understated and beautifully crafted" and sounding as though they could have been written in 1935 rather than 2005. In addition to vocals, Jones is featured on guitar, mandolin and fiddle. Other musicians include Duke Levine
on strings, Bob Dick on bass, Lorne Entress
on percussion, and Jay Ungar
on fiddle.
Perhaps the most noted track in the collection is "Pony", a song told from the viewpoint of a young Native American
girl in the 1920s who is forced to assimilate to a life and cluture that is not her own:
"Pony" features Ferron
on backing vocals. In addition to being nominated for a "Song of the Year" award by the North American Folk Alliance, the song finished the year at number 15 in the 2006 year-end Folk Radio Airplay Chart.
In 2007 Jones produced an album of songs written and performed with North Carolina
-based songwriter Jonathan Byrd. Radio Soul
is a stripped down recording featuring the voices and guitars of the two songwriters with little added instrumentation.
In September 2008, Joan Baez
released a recording of Jones's "Henry Russell's Last Words" on her album Day After Tomorrow. Baez' album has since been nominated for a Grammy
. Jones plans to release her own forthcoming album, Better Times Will Come in early 2009.
Jones is frequently compared to other distinct voices in Americana music such as Gillian Welch
, Iris DeMent
, and Alison Krauss
. Jones states that she is flattered by the comparisons and if asked to add a name to the list suggests "Ginny Hawker would be the name I would add. She has one of the truest voices I have heard. I love everything about the way she sings a song."
Jones has shared the stage with many artists, including Martina McBride
, the Del McCoury Band
, Guy Clark
, Darrell Scott
, Odetta
, the Old Crow Medicine Show
, and John Gorka
and Richard Thompson.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
based in Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
. Jones's career gained wider critical acclaim in 2006 with the release of her album, My Remembrance of You
My Remembrance of You
My Remebrance of You is the 2006 breakthrough album by Diana Jones.- Track listing :All songs written by Diana Jones# "Pretty Girl" - 3:10# "My Beloved" - 3:29# "All My Money on You" - 3:09# "Pony" - 4:40# "A Hold on Me" - 4:20...
. The album made a number of critics end-of-the-year "best of" lists. The Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
rated the album as the "best country recording of 2006" and described Jones as "an Americana gem", whose sound rides "an old-timey vibe that never sounds fussy, ... in a voice subtly shaded by the high lonesome sound."
Jones has also won a number of songwriting competitions including the venerable "New Folk" competition at the 2006 Kerrville Folk Festival
Kerrville Folk Festival
The Kerrville Folk Festival is a music festival held for 18 consecutive days in the late spring/early summer at Quiet Valley Ranch near Kerrville, Texas. The event has run on a yearly basis since 1972. In November 2008, the Kerrville Folk Festival and Kerrville Wine & Music Festival were acquired...
. Her song "Pony" was nominated as "Song of the Year" by the North American Folk Alliance, and Jones herself was nominated as "Emerging Artist of the Year" for 2006.
Biography
Diana Jones was adopted as an infant and raised in New YorkNew York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. She was first drawn to country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
in the early 1980s while attending high school on Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
. While her peers were listening to Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
, Kenny Loggins
Kenny Loggins
During the next decade, Loggins recorded so many successful songs for film soundtracks that he was referred to as, King of the Movie Soundtrack.He began with "I'm Alright" , "Mr. Night", and "Lead the Way" from Caddyshack...
and Prince
Prince (musician)
Prince Rogers Nelson , often known simply as Prince, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Prince has produced ten platinum albums and thirty Top 40 singles during his career. Prince founded his own recording studio and label; writing, self-producing and playing most, or all, of...
she began to seek out recordings by Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash
John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
and Patsy Cline
Patsy Cline
Patsy Cline , born Virginia Patterson Hensley in Gore, Virginia, was an American country music singer who enjoyed pop music crossover success during the era of the Nashville sound in the early 1960s...
.
She was also drawn to contemporary acts like Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton
Dolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best known for her work in country music. Dolly Parton has appeared in movies like 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias and Straight Talk...
and Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris is an American singer-songwriter and musician. In addition to her work as a solo artist and bandleader, both as an interpreter of other composers' works and as a singer-songwriter, she is a sought-after backing vocalist and duet partner, working with numerous other artists including...
.
After graduating from college Jones was reunited with her birth family in eastern Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
. It was there that she also gained a sense of her musical heritage when she discovered her grandfather, Robert Lee Maranville, was a talented singer and had been in a Knoxville
Knoxville, Tennessee
Founded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, U.S.A., behind Memphis and Nashville, and is the county seat of Knox County. It is the largest city in East Tennessee, and the second-largest city in the Appalachia region...
band with Chet Atkins
Chet Atkins
Chester Burton Atkins , known as Chet Atkins, was an American guitarist and record producer who, along with Owen Bradley, created the smoother country music style known as the Nashville sound, which expanded country's appeal to adult pop music fans as well.Atkins's picking style, inspired by Merle...
. "I found my first Smithsonian Folkways
Smithsonian Folkways
Smithsonian Folkways is the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian Institution. It is a part of the Smithsonian's Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, located at Capital Gallery in downtown Washington, D.C. The label was founded in 1987 after the family of Moses Asch, founder of Folkways...
recording of Southern ballads up at Cades Cove
Cades Cove
Cades Cove is an isolated valley located in the Tennessee section of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, USA. The valley was home to numerous settlers before the formation of the national park...
in the Smokies
Great Smoky Mountains
The Great Smoky Mountains are a mountain range rising along the Tennessee–North Carolina border in the southeastern United States. They are a subrange of the Appalachian Mountains, and form part of the Blue Ridge Physiographic Province. The range is sometimes called the Smoky Mountains or the...
on a drive with him", Jones explained to the Columbus Dispatch. "I put it in the CD player, and he started singing along and tapping his finger on his leg. He knew all those songs...I felt like I had discovered the source of what I had been trying to find musically."
In the 1990s Jones continued to develop as a writer and performer in the music scene
Music of Austin
The music of Austin, Texas, USA has gone beyond 6th Street and now includes other areas such as Red River, the University of Texas, the Warehouse District and Downtown, South Lamar, South Austin, East Austin and the Market District where bars and clubs of every kind can be found. Every night over...
around Austin, Texas
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
She released two albums, signed a deal with Hamstein Publishing, and began to develop a grass roots following.
It was the death of Maranville in 2000 that caused her to move back to the northeastern United States and enter a period of personal reflection: "I wrote this last project [My Remembrance of You] in a cabin in the woods, trying to recover my balance after the loss of my grandfather. I was writing songs because I had to, for myself."
Career
Although widely recognized as an "emerging artist" in 2006, Jones recording and songwriting career began a decade earlier. Her 1997 debut, Imagine Me, has been described as a combination of "the traditional American folk genre with a cutting edge on modern female folk music."Two years later, Jones followed-up with The One That Got Away.
Jones really caught the attention of folk music fans when she re-emerged with My Remembrance of You. The album was released March 12, 2006. It was dedicated to her late grandfather while also paying tribute to producer and archivist Alan Lomax
Alan Lomax
Alan Lomax was an American folklorist and ethnomusicologist. He was one of the great field collectors of folk music of the 20th century, recording thousands of songs in the United States, Great Britain, Ireland, the Caribbean, Italy, and Spain.In his later career, Lomax advanced his theories of...
. It was the first recording on the NewSong Recordings label, an outgrowth of the Mountain Stage
Mountain Stage
Mountain Stage is a two-hour music radio show, first aired in 1983, produced by WV Public Broadcasting and distributed worldwide by National Public Radio and the Voice of America's satellite radio service. Hosted by Larry Groce, the program showcases diverse music, from the traditional to modern...
NewSong Festival.
The recording almost immediately received high praise from critics. The collection of eleven original songs have been described as "understated and beautifully crafted" and sounding as though they could have been written in 1935 rather than 2005. In addition to vocals, Jones is featured on guitar, mandolin and fiddle. Other musicians include Duke Levine
Duke Levine
Duke Levine is an American guitarist known primarily for his rock and country music playing as a session musician. He has recorded and performed with Shawn Colvin, Lucy Kaplansky, Bill Morrissey, Jonatha Brooke, John Gorka, Jeanie Stahl, Ellis Paul, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Slaid Cleaves and many...
on strings, Bob Dick on bass, Lorne Entress
Lorne Entress
Lorne Entress is an American drummer, multi-instrumentalist and record producer currently living in Glastonbury, Connecticut.Entress has worked with a wide range of artists in folk, blues and jazz styles. Perhaps the artist with whom he has worked with most closely is singer-songwriter Mark Erelli...
on percussion, and Jay Ungar
Jay Ungar
Jay Ungar is an American folk musician and composer. -Biography:Ungar was born in the Bronx , the son of immigrant Jewish parents from Eastern Europe. He frequented Greenwich Village music venues during his formative period in the 1960s...
on fiddle.
Perhaps the most noted track in the collection is "Pony", a song told from the viewpoint of a young Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
girl in the 1920s who is forced to assimilate to a life and cluture that is not her own:
| I've been in the state school |
| for ten years or so |
| the teachers do their rounds |
| and they are mostly kind you know |
| but the language ain't the same |
| they cut my hair and changed my name |
"Pony" features Ferron
Ferron
Ferron, born Debby Foisy on , is a Canadian folk singer/songwriter and poet. In addition to being one of Canada's most famous folk musicians, she is one of the most influential writers and performers of women's music, and an important influence on later musicians such as Ani DiFranco, Mary Gauthier...
on backing vocals. In addition to being nominated for a "Song of the Year" award by the North American Folk Alliance, the song finished the year at number 15 in the 2006 year-end Folk Radio Airplay Chart.
In 2007 Jones produced an album of songs written and performed with North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
-based songwriter Jonathan Byrd. Radio Soul
Radio Soul
Radio Soul is a 2007 album by "Byrdjones", a collaboration by contemporary folk singer-songwriters Jonathan Byrd and Diana Jones. The duo assembled the album in preparation for a series of tours in which they split the bill across parts of Europe and the United states.-Recording:Although the liner...
is a stripped down recording featuring the voices and guitars of the two songwriters with little added instrumentation.
In September 2008, Joan Baez
Joan Baez
Joan Chandos Baez is an American folk singer, songwriter, musician and a prominent activist in the fields of human rights, peace and environmental justice....
released a recording of Jones's "Henry Russell's Last Words" on her album Day After Tomorrow. Baez' album has since been nominated for a Grammy
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
. Jones plans to release her own forthcoming album, Better Times Will Come in early 2009.
Jones is frequently compared to other distinct voices in Americana music such as Gillian Welch
Gillian Welch
Gillian Welch is an American singer-songwriter. She performs with her musical partner, guitarist David Rawlings. Their sparse and dark musical style, which combines elements of Appalachian music, Bluegrass, and Americana, is described by The New Yorker as "at once innovative and obliquely...
, Iris DeMent
Iris DeMent
Iris DeMent is an American singer and songwriter. DeMent's musical style encompasses the genres country and folk music.-Early life:...
, and Alison Krauss
Alison Krauss
Alison Maria Krauss is an American bluegrass-country singer, songwriter and fiddler. She entered the music industry at an early age, winning local contests by the age of ten and recording for the first time at fourteen. She signed with Rounder Records in 1985 and released her first solo album in...
. Jones states that she is flattered by the comparisons and if asked to add a name to the list suggests "Ginny Hawker would be the name I would add. She has one of the truest voices I have heard. I love everything about the way she sings a song."
Jones has shared the stage with many artists, including Martina McBride
Martina McBride
Martina McBride is an American country music singer and songwriter. McBride has been called the "Céline Dion of Country Music" for her big-voiced ballads and soprano range....
, the Del McCoury Band
Del McCoury Band
The Del McCoury Band is a bluegrass band. Originally Del McCoury and the Dixie Pals with Del on guitar and his brother Jerry on bass, the band went through a number of changes until the 1980s when the band solidified its line-up, adding McCoury's sons, Ronnie and Robbie on mandolin and banjo,...
, Guy Clark
Guy Clark
Guy Clark is an American Texas Country artist. In his career, he has released more than twenty albums, primarily on major labels. He has also written singles for other artists, including Ricky Skaggs, Steve Wariner and Rodney Crowell....
, Darrell Scott
Darrell Scott
James Darrell Scott known as Darrell Scott , the son of musician Wayne Scott with whom he has collaborated, is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He moved as a child to East Gary, Indiana. He was playing professionally by his teens in Southern California, later living in...
, Odetta
Odetta
Odetta Holmes, known as Odetta, was an American singer, actress, guitarist, songwriter, and a human rights activist, often referred to as "The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement". Her musical repertoire consisted largely of American folk music, blues, jazz, and spirituals...
, the Old Crow Medicine Show
Old Crow Medicine Show
Old Crow Medicine Show is an old-time string band based in Nashville, Tennessee. Their music has been called bluegrass, Americana, and alt-country, in addition to old-time. Along with original songs, the band performs many pre-World War II blues and folk songs...
, and John Gorka
John Gorka
John Gorka is a contemporary American folk musician. In 1991, Rolling Stone magazine called him "the preeminent male singer-songwriter of what has been dubbed the New Folk Movement."-Biography:...
and Richard Thompson.
Discography
- Imagine MeImagine Me"Imagine Me" is a single by American gospel artist Kirk Franklin from his 2005 album, Hero. The song peaked at number 52 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and number two on the Billboard Gospel Songs chart. The song won the 2007 Grammy Award for Best Gospel Song....
(1997, New Shoes Records) - The One That Got Away (1998, New Shoes Records)
- My Remembrance of YouMy Remembrance of YouMy Remebrance of You is the 2006 breakthrough album by Diana Jones.- Track listing :All songs written by Diana Jones# "Pretty Girl" - 3:10# "My Beloved" - 3:29# "All My Money on You" - 3:09# "Pony" - 4:40# "A Hold on Me" - 4:20...
(2006, NewSong Recordings) - Radio SoulRadio SoulRadio Soul is a 2007 album by "Byrdjones", a collaboration by contemporary folk singer-songwriters Jonathan Byrd and Diana Jones. The duo assembled the album in preparation for a series of tours in which they split the bill across parts of Europe and the United states.-Recording:Although the liner...
, with Jonathan Byrd (May 2007) - Better Times Will Come (February 2009, Proper RecordsProper RecordsProper Records is a record label founded in 1988 by Malcolm Mills and Paul Riley. Commencing with a handful of releases, including The Balham Alligators and Chilli Willi and the Red Hot Peppers, the label grew in stature and renown through its reissue marque, 'Proper Box', whose 4CD boxsets for...
[UK]/ April 2009 [US]) - High AtmosphereHigh AtmosphereHigh Atmosphere: Ballads and Banjo Tunes from Virginia and North Carolina is a 1975 compilation album released by Rounder Records. The album is composed of Appalachian folk music recordings gathered by musicologist John Cohen in North Carolina and Virginia.The album was originally released in 1975...
(April 5, 2011, USA)
External links
- Diana Jones, official web site
- Diana Jones at MySpaceMySpaceMyspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....