Press play on Jones’ mesmerizing new album, Stories Up High, and you’ll find yourself transported there, too. Recorded at East Nashville’s famed Bomb Shelter studio with producer Andrija Tokic (Alabama Shakes, Langhorne Slim), the collection is lush and immersive, with rich, elegant arrangements that ebb and flow beneath Jones’ velveteen vocals. The performances here are graceful and timeless, evoking a faded, old Hollywood glamour full of longing and melancholy, but dig a bit beneath the surface and you’ll find that Jones is actually an optimist at heart, a believer in the relentless beauty of this mixed-up world. She wrote the album in what she describes as a “flow state,” surrendering herself to the creative process the way a monk might approach meditation, and the result is a captivating, cinematic work that’s equal parts stream-of-consciousness and careful introspection, an honest, intuitive record that hints at everything from Angel Olsen and Judy Garland to Brandi Carlile and Andy Shauf as it reckons with growth, change, and the very fabric of life itself.
“Strange as it sounds, I found myself sitting there crying while I was writing some of these songs because they came with such deep realizations about myself,” Jones confesses. “The music was there for me when I needed it most.”
It’s a recurring theme in her life. Born in Maryland and raised in Florida, Jones spent much of her youth surrounded by animals thanks to her parents, who raised kangaroos, wallabies, and other exotic creatures on their 10-acre farm. Though none of her immediate family members considered themselves particularly artistic, Jones fell in love with the theater in middle school and spent much of her adolescence performing in plays and musicals. In the classroom, she was a conscientious student with a sterling record, but by the time she reached college, academic and emotional burnout had begun to take hold, and Jones soon found herself turning to songwriting in search of release.