Why the Name Change?

If you haven't noticed, I have recently changed the name on most of my sites (Website, Twitter, etc), and I have also taken down my last album release "What Could've Been". The reason is, there are other 'Jared Jones' artists who also have music on ITunes, Amazon, etc, and I do not want their music associated with me, nor do I want my music associated with them. This is not a knocked against them, just a business decision. Instead, and going forward, I have decided to use my full name with middle initials, Jared KF Jones.

This was a pretty easy decision actually. I'm not going to be releasing music to sell any further, but whenever I do release new music, it will be via SoundCloud, YoutTube, and Spotify. I continue to be more of the songwriter/vocal producer than artist. Truth is, I get my most enjoyment from writing and demoing songs that other artists will record, and release on their albums.

Lastly, if you're wondering why I haven't released new music in a while, I want to be certain that I will not pitch the song to another artist to record before putting something out myself. Each song I do holds a very strong value to me. I will put something out within the next few months though.

Music Playing in Retail Stores Nationwide!

A few weeks ago I received the email below...

"They play your song at my job everyday, and I like it alot. Just thought I'd let you know..I sing along with it all of the time".

This email was from Simone, who works at Office Depot.

A week or so before that, I get a YouTube comment from 'tobigdiesel'...

"Great song heard it at OD. Love the songs words gets me over stuff"

It has been one of my goals to have my music played in stores across the county, and it looks like it has been realized!  Thank you for letting me know Simone and tobigdiesel! Knowing I am accomplishing my goals continues to fuel my passion for music.

More to come!

(for free music downloads, visit Jared Jones Online, and sign up for the mailing list)

Artist: Lauren Eylise

Today begins the day where I begin featuring artists who I have become a fan of. I came across this young lady from a daily email I receive from MI2N.com (Music Industry News - you can read the article here). Her name is Lauren Eylise, and she hails from Dayton, OH. She has what I like to call, a rustic soul vibe. I especially enjoy her song, "Mr. Jonesy". No, not just because my name is in it! :-)

You can hear her music and read more about her by visiting https://www.reverbnation.com/laureneylise

Been a while huh??

Please don't be mad at me. I apologize for neglecting you, but you're not the only one I've been neglecting. I've been neglecting myself.

Thinking back to my high school days (not too long ago), when all I wanted to do is sing, be the artist. One taste of the negative side of the music business, and I realize my passion is actually writing the songs, and hearing others sing them.

But then...I hate the wait. Doing the demo, letting others hear the demo, waiting....

See, that's how my first album "What Could've Been" cam about. Most of those songs were written and intended for other artists. But I got tired of waiting. My mentality became, "these songs need to be heard, not later, but now". And hey, people say I have a good voice. So it works.

But truth be told, can I really sustain my career as an artist? I'm a family man, wife, and two daughters, and I really do hate being away from them. Usher, Ne-Yo, their fathers too. But during a recent brief interview in the during a break in performance on Good Morning America, Ne-Yo did say the part of the "road" (read artist life) that is the most tough, is that he can not be there to see the milestones his kids reach. I do not want to miss out on that.

So where do I stand now? Currently doing tons of wedding performances, but that has no effect on my career as an artist. When I do have the time for my own performances, will I spend more time writing and cutting song demos for other artists? What do I want??

The more I think about it, regardless of how many people say that I need to continue singing, and being the artist, my most fulfilled moments come when I'm writing and cutting demos. Knowing that soon, I will hear it on the radio, not my voice, but my song.

I'm not sure if any of you like gardening, but it's like planting a seed, and knowing that it will produce fruit...envisioning that fruit, tasting that fruit.

Will I release more songs? Absolutely. Am I working on some as we speak? Absolutely. But please be patient with me, please pray for me. And I promise I will continue to share my God given gifts with you and the rest of the world.

Talk again soon.

- Jared

40 Acts of Compassion - YouTube Video

I was curious as to what I wanted to write about this week, and began browsing Facebook to see if anything I wanted to weigh in on caught my eye. A friend of mine, and my brother in Christ, Micah Christian posted a recent status saying..."If you're looking for little ways to change the world...". I proceeded to the YouTube link titled "40 Acts of Compassion". And I'll admit, probably like many of you, I had the TV on in the background, cell phone by my side, etc. After about a minute, I paused the video, and made sure the TV was muted. I really wanted to focus on the messages in the video (one of which I think I even contributed to and had forgot about). I've posted the video below, and please take a break, and spend the next five minutes viewing positive, reinforcing messages on the little things we can all do to change the world...

New Song On The Way

My wife highly suggested I take a small break from music over the last few weeks. I had become so immersed in trying to make this happen, that happen, get this done, get that done, that I had begin to lose myself. So I promised I would not work on any music for a few weeks. (officially, I was not going to continue until March 1). But something happened over the last few weeks. I became refreshed, my mind became open to fresh ideas. What happened reminded me of what my father always says, "No sitting, No soaring". Because I was able to take a short break from music, I'm now able to come back, and bring you creations I didn't even know was possible...let's begin. New song on the way in two weeks.

I Wanna Make You Cry Too!

Gotta give it to Adele, she pours such real, and raw emotion into each and every record she does (would love to see Grammy performance). After reading an article by Beth Teitell on Boston.com titled, Why Cry Over 'Someone'?, I could not help but to ask myself....has any one of my songs ever made someone cry?

Now with many of my songs, I would hope it would any tears would be of joy, which I would hope songs like "Gorgeous Girl" may do.  But then I write songs that reflect a time when I myself was going through a struggle, like "Stuck".

One can only wonder. But I would love hearing from any one of my fans with how one of my songs has made them feel.

Keep on being you Adele!

www.jaredjonesonline.com

Love Lyrics (Countdown to Valentine's Day"

"No New Year's Day to celebrate
No chocolate covered candy hearts to give away
No first of spring
No song to sing
In fact here's just another ordinary day" - Stevie Wonder - 'I Just Called To Say I Love You'

"I Don't Need No Dreams When I'm By Your Side
Every Moment Takes Me To Paradise
Darlin', Let Me Hold You
Warm You In My Arms And Melt Your Fears Away
Show You All The Magic That A Perfect Love Can
Make
I Need You Night And Day?" - Michael Jackson - 'Baby Be Mine'

"A foreign beauty so exotic
When she smiled at me
She took my breath away
She's reminiscent of a goddess
It's a shame that we could not communicate
How do I say" - Usher - 'How do I say'

"You should be in magazines, baby
The world should know who you are
Can't help myself from staring
Forgive me, can't turn away
I'm caught up in your eyes" - Jared Jones - 'Gorgeous Girl'

These are just a few lyrics from some of my favorite artists, and artists who inspire my own music. With Valentine's Day quickly approaching, and the sale of Hallmark cards, chocolate candy, and red roses about to spike, it's a great time to highlight the lyrics in love songs. Are these lyrics reminiscent of what's being said to you ladies? Have you said something like this to your ladies fellas?

www.jaredjonesonline.com

Where do we go from here?

At church today, with only a little time left during the sermon, I felt inspired to write. The pastor was speaking on the book of John, and how Jesus is our light and only way to achieve eternal life. Now I have grown up in the church, and on a few occasions I have had some lyrics come to mind, but not like this. Over the next few minutes, I wrote what I hope will become the first of many spiritually inspired songs that will be created along with the help of Ray Greene, lead music leader at First Baptist Church in Randolph.

And now, sitting back at home, I'm wondering where everything goes from here? I've been back into writing over the last few weeks, on a variety of different projects, including my next one. I want every song I do to mean something, it can't just be a song you hear, and go, "oh, that was nice".

I guess it goes back to taking it one song at a time. We all get so caught up in extreme productivity (we are socially constructed to believe greater quantity = ___________. fill in the blank)

Where do we go from here? We take a step back. Take a deep breath, and dive into ONE song at a time.

Did I say Tuesday??!!

Okay, maybe with the new year I'll do a lot better posting more frequently. Hope everyone's new years eve, and new years day went wonderfully! Right now I'm home with my two beautiful daughters, the 4 year old is on her new LeapFrog Explorer that she got for Christmas. She's doing a great job tracing her letters (will be in school later this year!), and my little 8 month old is...relaxed.  Today I'm getting my personal music catalog onto my GoogleMusic cloud, as I have plenty of songs to learn to perform SPLASH, (the function band I'm also in). We have tons of private gigs scheduled throughout this year, and it will be keeping me busy. I will not be performing any original shows this year (at least not anytime soon), but I will be doing a lot of filming for projects that you will see over the next few years. Trust, I'm not going away! Just in a huge state of preparation.

Thought I'd have a change to put out a concept mixtape by February, not happening. I would not want to just rush anything out just for the sake of having something new. But I can say be prepared for new music over the next few months.

Talk to you soon. Email me at jaredjones@jaredjonesonline.com if you wanna discuss anything.