Damn it ! Meet Jack Jones | Houston Press

A few weeks ago, the Houston Press received an invitation to an exclusive show at Brava, a chic downtown skyscraper, featuring Gotdamn Jack Jones. A press release was attached to the invitation but the face in the photos was unfamiliar. There was a link to some of Jones’ music and the songs that led to that link had me responding ASAP.

I’ve been writing about Houston music for 11 years now, and I pride myself on knowing at least a little about what’s going on here. Jones’ music is a mix of soul, R&B, and rock, the kind of music I listened to growing up, and the songs are solid. Above all, they are spoken by an undeniable voice.

I was angry at myself for somehow sleeping on this obviously talented artist. Then I got mad at the Houston music community for not creating the buzz Jones deserves. I couldn’t believe he only had 95 monthly listeners on Spotify, and only 100 subscribers on YouTube. When I finally got the chance to speak with Jones – a lifelong Houstonian who grew up on South Park and Hiram Clarke like me – I learned that there was actually only one person who had kept away from me and other music lovers and that person was Jack. Jones.

“I grew up in a pretty chaotic house,” said Jones, who spent his formative years in South Park’s Villa Americana Apartments (aka “The VA”) and the Aristocrat Apartments in Hiram Clarke. “I was the youngest in a family of five. The only thing that brought peace to the house was music. Even though it was chaotic and dysfunctional, the strange dynamic was that everyone in the house had an intense love for music. It was the only time there was any sort of peace in the house was when there was music. And everyone was eclectic and liked their own type of music. In any part of the house you could hear four, five different genres and that’s kind of what brought peace to the house.

Jones said his mother was into country western, blues and soul classics. An older brother listened exclusively to Prince. One sister preferred 80s pop like Madonna and Culture Club and another turned it into The Isley Brothers and The Gap Band. He started writing music at a young age. He loved singing but wasn’t sure if anyone else knew of his interests.

“I knew my mother loved me but there was never any encouragement. There were no hugs or kisses. My mother took care of me and was a good mother, but she was not loved, held, kissed and encouraged. So you don’t really do that, sometimes it passes,” he said. “So I didn’t know I had a gift like this because it was never really encouraged.”

Some suggested he had talent, even if no one at home recognized it. When the Challenger exploded in 1986, some elementary school choirs came together to form the Challenger Choir and Jones was selected from his gifted and talented class to participate. He sang in church. As a young middle school student, he was part of a group that traveled to New York and was lucky enough to sign with Epic Records.

As opportunities presented themselves, something else also happened that prevented Jones from being a more well-known artist.

“I had to deal with a lot of strange things in high school and it put me in a shell,” he said. “I’ve always suffered from anxiety, but I had no idea what it was until a few years ago when I took my son to a counselor because of his anxiety. I never knew what it was called. I just knew that at any time if I was singing or playing I looked good on stage, it was just before and after when I was a mess. I couldn’t explain it, man, I just didn’t want to be in the spotlight.

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Jones and his group at Brava

Photo by Jesse Sendejas Jr.

“You don’t have that foundation that gives you the confidence to stand out.” You succumb to it and it was an uphill battle, it really was. But I was comfortable being in my own shadow, I really was. When people found out I could sing, it was very surreal for them. But here’s the crazy thing: I didn’t believe them. For years, no matter what they said, I didn’t believe them because if I didn’t have that kind of love within my family that loved music like that – I mean, no one made it. ‘stories – then you just don’t know.

“I was in singing groups where I played like the role of JoJo, but I was really K-Ci. But I was perfectly fine just being the backup singer and not the lead singer. It was a strange dynamic, and it made sense in my sick mind.

Although his anxiety disorder manifested itself early on, it did not stop Jones from getting involved in music as a songwriter and producer. He was happy with these roles. About six years ago, her son was struggling with his own anxiety, and through talking with the therapist, Jones realized he, too, needed help.

“I was able to get counseling and part of that therapy was putting something out there. It was the only way. I realized that freedom was my only choice and that I had to somehow let Jack Jones out after all these years,” he said. So he wrote an album and released it, called Left handed in my right mindand “it was kind of like the start of this journey where people realized where this guy came from, who I had tried to hide my whole life.”

“I’s Wide Shut” is a central track from the EP, released in 2020. When you hear Jones sing it – a song about feeling out of place and coming to terms with yourself – you hear his conviction , like his favorite. the musicians – Prince, Stevie Wonder, Donny Hathaway, Bill Withers – believed in their own songs. When you watch him, it’s amazing to hear tender undertones coming from his 6’3 frame on tracks like “Water on Mars”, less so when he growls on a song like “Fear” from Left handed in my right mind.

“I titled this based on what you think I am, I’m not. And you have to read the story because, again, self-love is so important and this was the first journey of self-love. And it was hard. It was a difficult album because I’m naturally introverted. There is no middle ground. I’m 100% introverted, but I’m not shy. I never wanted to attract attention.

“It took me a while to get into therapy, which I’m a huge advocate for, and I think so many people, especially growing up in situations where you don’t have two parents, probably need practice. and discuss some of these things to try to piece some things together. I know that was pivotal for me and it’s really the only reason we’re talking about Jack Jones.

Issues like anxiety are crystallized in art and that art is cathartic for the artist. We know the plan. Jones took his time revealing his full gallery of talents, especially his centerpiece, his voice. The show at Brava was a bit of a coming out as much as a advancement of the new music he’s creating for an album called Shepherd.

He has assembled a group of talented musicians and he considers them, and himself, to be “music snobs” who demand the best from each other. We were already sold on Gotdamn Jack Jones (and yes, the “Gotdamn” is supposed to be read as an exclamation point) but seeing the show live made us even more believers.

“I did a lot of performances. Performance was never really the issue. It was the before and after. My pre-show anxiety and post-show anxiety were really bad. So if I was good at the show, I didn’t hear about it because after the show, they couldn’t find me. I had so much to deal with with the demon of anxiety.

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Photo by Jesse Sendejas Jr.

“I found ways to store a lot of things. I’m a big critic of my own music. It’s a process of letting go and letting the water flow but I’m very meticulous because I respect it enormously. I’m a music snob and part of my journey is not appearing like that, right? But I am because I respect what people before us did, I respect the essence of what music really is.

“Words are spells. It’s a trance,” he said. “It can be a high vibration trance or a low vibration trance but, you know, I don’t want to break the trance. My work, when I write, I try to tell you a story and it must have meaning, it must be linked to something.

Right now, the story is one of Jones stepping out from under his own shadow, escaping the anxiety that kept him from becoming better known in music circles. But one day the story will be all about his talents as a songwriter, producer, bandleader and singer. He thinks of the songs of Shepherd and playing more concerts will contribute to this development.

“It’s a bit like coming full circle. Through therapy, you sort of discover who you are. Your journey with God. It was just a rebirth because he was the one trying to get by. My anxiety came from not being able to keep Jack Jones inside. And inside I wanted out. I needed freedom. My freedom is to wake up and make music all day. If the trip takes me there, I might be one of the most dangerous artists because I can do this for days. I write and produce and have so much to say with my ruminating mind.

“I can’t wait to share my story at big festivals and in front of small crowds, it doesn’t really matter. I think I’m just ready to be an inspiration to anyone, just to be an inspiration to myself.