Art & Life with Micah Jones

Today we’d like to introduce you to Micah Jones.

Micah, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
I grew up in Medford, Oregon, and started singing and performing when I was in grade school. I picked up guitar shortly after and cut up my fingers practicing on my family’s cheap acoustic guitar for almost a year to convince my parents to let me buy an electric guitar. From there, I started learning everything I could get my hands on and forming bands with my friends.

My parents raised me on James Taylor, the Eagles, and a bunch of other “songwriting-first” kinds of artists. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the guitar riffs and the harmony stacks, but what kept me coming back was the emotional connection I felt to the lyrics. I was captivated by the way a song could tell me something about myself or other people that I didn’t know how to identify or articulate otherwise. It inspired me to start writing and recording my own songs as a teen, and developing my own musical style.

After high school, I moved to L.A. to study vocal performance at Loyola Marymount University and break into the music industry as an artist. Right around that time is when I discovered John Mayer’s music, which opened up a whole other world of songwriting, guitar playing, and singing styles for me. At the same time, I was also discovering my own struggles with anxiety and depression. Even though it would take years for me to learn how to talk about or manage them (always an ongoing process, of course), songwriting was always the friend I could turn to when no one else was there; the way I could say the words I was longing to believe.

My mission as an artist is based on one simple idea: You Are Enough. Every song on my new EP, “Notes From the Road,” can have its message traced back to that truth. You matter just as you are, and don’t need to perform or pretend to prove you’re worthy of love.

In addition to making my own music, I sing and play guitar for other artists, sessions, corporate bands, and churches around L.A.

Can you give our readers some background on your music?
As I mentioned, my message as an artist is You Are Enough. When I write songs, I essentially always start with some small lyrical and melodic idea. Sometimes, it’s a hook based on a saying or expression (my new song “Don’t Buy the Lie” comes to mind), other times it’s me recognizing something I need to do (another recently released song, “Slow Down”). I’ll find a lyric/melody combo that feels inspiring enough to write an entire song around, then the rest of the songwriting pours out pretty quickly.

From there, I’ll pull out my acoustic guitar and play through the new song until the chords and feel are right, then I start recording a preliminary version in my home studio. This is where I layer in all the production elements, instruments, etc. until I’ve found the song’s “sound.” For my new EP “Notes From the Road,” I brought those demos to producer Aaron Aiken, and we used them as the foundation for the final versions of the songs. I’m really proud of the finished product–you can hear my love of big guitar moments, stacked harmonies, and ambient vibes, but most of all, the songwriting is front and center.

My hope for “Notes From the Road” is that the songs will become companions for people wherever their lives happen to be at the moment. If you’re frustrated with the ways power and ego are celebrated, “Don’t Buy the Lie” can be a rebellious anthem for you. If you’re struggling to find good things in your life, “Thankful” can be there to uplift you. “Right Where You Are” can offer you a reminder that it’s okay to not be perfect. My favorite artists invite me to approach life more deeply and lovingly, and I hope that “Notes From the Road” can do that for people in some way.

Any advice for aspiring or new artists?
Sure, here are a few things I’ve learned:

-Find a community of people who love the kind of music/art that you love! Everything else will flow from that.

-TAKE ONE DAY TOTALLY OFF EVERY WEEK. It won’t win you any “rise n’ grind” points, but I promise you’ll be happier if you do it. You’re a person, not a machine. So, take some time to be a person. Plus, it’ll help you form a productive rhythm the other days.

-Find your creative “lane” and stay in it for the most part. Sure, experiment outside of it sometimes, but the only way to try new things is to know what your baseline “thing” is. It’ll hopefully be what you’re best at and what you love, and that’s what people will grow to want from you.

What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
You can check out my new EP “Notes From the Road” on all major streaming services, or buy it on Bandcamp! The full EP drops Friday 11/22, but I’ve released several singles from it already so check those out beforehand.

The best thing you can do to support me is go to my shows, buy/stream/save my songs + add them to your playlists, and share my music with your friends! The personal element here is key. I hope you follow me on social media for sure, but “liking” an Instagram post isn’t nearly as meaningful as actually doing something personal. Plus, it gives us all a chance to form a community, and isn’t that one of the best parts about music in the first place?

Contact Info:

• Website: https://micahjonesmusic.bandcamp.com/
• Email: micahjonesmusic@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/micahjonesmusic/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/micahjonesmusic/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/micahjonesmusic
• Other: https://www.youtube.com/user/micahjonesmusic

Image Credit:
Tyler Miles

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