LEA JONES

CONTACT INFORMATION, my ‘new’ CD, is ready to go. It sounds great.

Here are the liner notes from the new CD, which is getting some good reviews and is at CDBaby.com

These two studio albums, released for the first time on CD, reflect at least three arcs in my musical life. **** The Self-Help Folk Thing: There I was minding my own business, penning love songs mainly, when I was nudged into doing some ‘personal growth’ work. Not long after having my neural grooves re-paved, I wrote Integrity and We Shall Rise, and my tunes from there on out tended to chronicle the evolution I’m still tangling with—spirituality, personal integrity, recovery, community, differentiating between love and loneliness, and like that… Somewhere in  here I did a little time in Nashville, attempting to redefine love for the sake of the country music industry. **** From writing for bands to writing for solo guitar: I didn’t play any guitar on “Against the Wall” and had no good way to perform the tunes live. While recording “Wall,” though, Katie Henry took me to see Michelle Shocked, who reminded me that it was possible to write tunes for a single voice and guitar.  This was a good thing because**** From Big Production to Bare Bones: I ran out of money. “Wall” had been fully realized (instrumentally and vocally) only because Don Ross had just retooled his studio and wanted to have a project to mess with, so he gave me a ‘package deal’ (he never said he regretted it, but we spent 30 hours on the vocals for Integrity alone). We had a much smaller budget for Feels Like Love, and the B-side slid inevitably into ‘live in concert’ cuts (which work–to the extent they do–because that’s how they were written). Sit down in front of a good stereo and really listen to the first seven tunes. The production is amazing.

The original liner notes from both records, along with credits and lyrics, will be here at www.LeaJonesMusic.com.   Tour dates & actual contact information are at www.ReverbNation.com/LeaJones.

I’m a writer, guitar player and a singer. Recorded four or five CDs’ worth of original material over the years (starting in about ‘88) and played lots of different venues — from the Kennedy Center to street corners on both coasts — as a solo and with bands. Most of the bands I’ve worked with were newgrassy, Texas Swingy, folky, and/or country rockish.

Went through a long dry period after moving to Maryland in ‘93. I was inspired to once again write, record, travel and perform by the Bush administration back in ‘02. Moved out of politicking in ‘06 and have been singing with The Swing States Road Show (songs of peace love and understanding from Bob Wills to Bob Marley) since then.

Favorite musical experiences involve harmonizing with other singers, jamming, and performing for audiences who get what I’m doing, in that order. Writing and recording have their unique charms as well.

The two bands I have going right now (which you can read about by clicking on their names in the header up top) include some truly wonderful musicians (and friends). It’s an honor to be able to work and play with these folks.

I’ll have a CD out soon that compiles the first two records I made in the late 80’s (don’t worry, we used almost NO synths). Most of my other tunes are eventually going to end up on BAREFOOT LEROY’s new CD (working title: Barefoot Leroy Gets Down Home) or on The Swing States Road Show’s upcoming CD (no working title… in fact, the band doesn’t know we’re going to make the record). The Vietnam record was co-written with a good friend.

You can visit my Sonicbids page, which has photos, reviews, and some mp3s. You can contact me directly at Lea Jones