Who Is Willie Jones? The Story Behind His Journey to Country Music

One of the coolest things going on in country music right now is the genre blending and the diversity in the industry. Singer-songwriter, Willie Jones is at the forefront of this movement. A new artist to most, the rising artist has been grinding for over a decade. We chatted with him about his journey to where he is now and everything in between.

Growing up in Shreveport, Louisiana, Jones recalls how important music was to him. “I grew up with my mom, my dad, and my sisters,” he began. “Music in my life was always something that I loved. Earliest I can remember was being 4 years old and wanting to sing.” The singer sang in church, in choir, and was involved in school plays throughout his youth.

“I listened to a lot of different stuff. I was inspired by so many,” shared Jones. “I’m talking Gospel [music], I’m talking Soulja Boy to musical theatre, freaking Beyonce, T-Pain, John Legend, Kacey Musgraves. Just all over man. I just like music that I like.” It is clear that the singer has learned to fuse his love for hiphop with soulful country music, since his childhood.

“Growing up we had so much, I mean our generation had just a different form of access to different kinds of music. Everybody just grew up around different things.” Jones shared later, “music today everybody is kind of all over the place and that’s a great thing. […] “If it sounds good to me, I’ll listen to it.”

The Turning Point:

Jones has been making a name for himself basically his whole life. However, back in 2012, the singer competed on the popular show, X factor. At just eighteen years old, the judges and America knew Jones was a star in the making. “That was my first kind of splash on the scene. Of course, so much work goes in to really getting a career after you do one of those shows. That was almost 10 years ago and there’s been a lot of freaking ups and downs. […] The goal was always to make great music.”

Since then, Jones has garnered over a million followers across his social media following. The singer even signed a record deal with Sony Music Nashville earlier this year. Jones is proud to represent Louisiana, his country roots, and is amongst the growing powerful group of black entertainers in country music right now.

Jones connected to storytelling in the genre, and it is clear he fits right in.“That’s one thing that definitely drew me to country music was the stories that were told and the instruments that were used. It’s really cool to see where country music is now and see it just expand and grow into people telling stories in a country format in a way that’s personal and individual to them.”

Today:

Flash forward to today, 2021 has been quite the year for the singer. Jones has a handful of songs out so far, including “Down By The Riverside”, and most recently “Get Low, Get High.” The singer-songwriter shared the story behind the later during our conversation. “It was like one of the first songs that I wrote during the quarantine. This was when the music industry was figuring out how to do things,” he began.

“I was back home in Louisiana and it was a crazy storm the night before that I had this write and the next day it was the most beautiful day when I had this write. It was just crazy to see how wild and horrible, tree limbs falling down, lighting, and the next day the sun out and some breeze,” shared Jones. “We wrote the song in my backyard, but I was telling my co-writers about the weather the night before. […] We just got into this conversation about how life has ups and downs and we have to really learn from the lows and appreciate the lows to really celebrate the highs in life.”

The anthemic song has become a fan-favorite, and one we can all use during the crazy last few years. Jones shared, “I’m excited for people to add this song to their playlist and to their life because I know it’s one that just lifts the vibration.” We tend to agree!

Lucky for fans, Jones promises more music coming at the top of the new year. “I will say this, there is definitely going to be more music. There’s going to be more visuals and there’s going to be more life, more love, more growth. We got some big stuff coming. I’m just really excited to keep growing.”

 

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