Owensboro man debuts first country song

February 7, 2020 | 12:06 am

Updated February 6, 2020 | 10:08 pm

Jay Jones has served in many roles in recent years including father, husband, sheriff’s deputy, photographer, and now, country music singer and songwriter.

On Feb. 15, his single “This Ground” will debut on all music platforms including iTunes, Amazon Music, and Spotify.

“Recently, I really started to get back to my roots of country living,” Jones said. It’s about my life growing up on the farm. It honors my dad and my granddad.”

Jones is not new to the music scene. He started playing guitar in church when he was 17-years-old. He said he was mainly writing worship music at first. Within the past few months, he started to experiment with writing country music.

Even with 15 years of experience in songwriting, Jones said there is something special about this particular song. What usually starts as an idea, came to him as quick inspiration as he played his friend’s guitar.

“Sometimes the process is different for me,” he said. “Either I am dealing with something or someone I know is dealing with something that is affecting them. This time, I was sitting in my friend’s house and I picked up his Martin guitar and I started playing it; the guitar sounds beautiful as it is. The cords started speaking to me about who I am and how I grew up.”

As Jones began to write the song, the lyrics told his story. In 1997 when his dad transitioned from dairy farming to crop farming, it was difficult for the family to give up something that they loved to do.

“That arose out of me just picking up the guitar,” Jones said. “The song took two to three hours to write; it happened really fast. It’s special to me in that way.”

Jones recently traveled to Nashville to Ocean Ways Studios to record the single. He enjoyed the atmosphere in Nashville and said the five-hour recording session went well.

“I had a fiddle player come in and he recorded with me,” Jones said. “It’s just an acoustic guitar and the fiddle so it’s pretty simple.”

Jones describes his friends and family as extremely supportive. Although he has released music in the past, he said this is the best feedback and the most support he’s felt out of anything that he has released. One supporter is his wife, Haleigh.

“Jay has had this dream for a long time and to finally see him go after and pursue this dream full force, him being completely vulnerable, passionate and 100 percent real through his music really excites me,” Haleigh said. “I’m so blessed to be alongside him for this journey.”

A music video for “This Ground” will be filmed at his family farm in Philpot later this month.

As far as future plans, Jones said he has some other songs in the works. The plan is to release four singles this year. The first of the year 2021 he will be releasing a full-length album.

“I am thankful to have friends and new friends and it’s been neat to see everyone’s responses so far,” Jones said. “I am the most excited about people learning a little about me and who I was growing up.”

February 7, 2020 | 12:06 am

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