An Interview with Aaron Cabott Jones

We spoke with Aaron Cabott Jones about what inspires him, the making of 'The Adventures of Aaron Cabott Jones' and his new single 'American Jesus.'

When did you first start making music and what inspired you to pursue it more seriously?
I started making music as a drummer around 1965, and learned to play listening to 45' records I found in the local radio station (WTOD) dumpster. So, I taught myself how to play the drums listening to those records. Sly and the family Stone Dance To The Music; is one record I remember from that dumpster with great fondness.

But music took a more serious turn for me in the early 70's when my best friend and lead guitar player, Jim Barnett, was kill in a car/train crash. The guy driving the car thought he could beat the train, and he was tragically wrong. His parents gave me his guitar, a 1963 Fender Music Master. I promised them I would learn to play, and I did; I still have and play that guitar to this day. It's featured on all my records in some way.

Who or what are you inspired by?
Big inspirations were The Beatles; I learned to write songs listening to them... They were an obsession for years... Then I discovered Tom Petty... My Current Fave.
But the biggest inspiration for me was and still is in many ways, my older brother. He brought home all the current records of the time. Creme, Beatles, Hendrix, Muddy Waters, Derek And The Domino's, BB King, Yes... The list goes on and on he has areal eclectic taste in music; so it really informed my playing and my writing. Though I leaned very heavily toward pop... So the Beatles and Motown records were my focus... mostly. 

What can you tell us about your last album 'The Adventures of Aaron Cabott Jones'? What do you hope listeners take away from the project?
Well it's been two years now since I recorded that one... I would probably do it differently now. But one of the special things other than unearthing songs from the 70's, is that I had the album mastered by Paul McCartney's mastering engineer, Alex Horton, at Abby Road! I always wanted to be associated with the venerable studio since I was a kid... Now, in a small way I am... smiles. But Adventures has songs from my earliest writing experiments. "A Moment In 1976 was written the second year of learning to play guitar... YES B YES is from 89' while Feel It Shine is from 94'.  Chewing on the bone is from 2017.  So, I hope it's just a pleasant journey for the audience as it was for me to finally release those songs.

As an artist, has the current Pandemic effected you in any way?
It's forced me to focus on a film project (animation) I've wanted to do for a while...  And promote my current Single, American Jesus. Also I'm getting ready to release a (newer) single. So finishing that up has been part of this moment we're all struggling through. And No, I don't have a virus song coming out. Most of the ones I've heard, with exceptions to the parody's by Chris Mann, are pretty bad. 

It's left me very disappointed in our current leadership of government. They've made the health of our nation a political issue rather than a state of emergency and safety, and do the right thing to protect the country and make it healthy again.

Do you have anything in store musically for 2020?
I'd like to to release either an EP, or four new singles from my back log of songs, and my film "ORION EXPRESS" this year! But the film process for animation is very different than live action. And writing, directing and producing is a lot... It's very involved and time consuming if you want to do it right. 


What can fans do to support you?
That's a lot to ask of people, I think (to support you). SO, I'm always a little shy about doing that. At the very least I would really appreciate giving my songs an honest listen. There's SO MUCH music available now it's maddening. So, I really respect the time people take to listen to the music, and I hope they enjoy it!

Follow Aaron Cabott Jones for updates and new music and check out his newest single 'American Jesus':