Exclusive: Go Behind The Scenes With Caroline Jones As She Records ‘All Of The Boys’

Jones (Photo: Tyler Lord)

Rising star CAROLINE JONES is currently climbing the Country charts with a sassy song she wrote with ZAC BROWN, “All Of The Boys.” In a new, behind-the-scenes video, premiering exclusively on ALL ACCESS, we get a fascinating (and sometimes funny) look into JONES’ creative process as she records the song in the studio over multiple days, and strives to find just the right sound.

Watch the video below, following our quick, six-question interview with JONES about her music and more.

What does it feel like to see your song rising on the charts as radio continues to support and embrace it?

It's really gratifying. I have great respect for the Country music community, and the songwriters, and the musicians and all the folks who are on cogs in this big wheel, this big machine. So I'm just grateful to be a part of it. And I'm glad people are loving “All Of The Boys,” that is really a fun, sassy, sexy song. I’m very grateful. 

This behind-the-scenes video shows you taking charge in the studio, and laying out your own musical vision. Is that what you were trying to convey? 

I hope not. I mean, not necessarily. That seems like a big ego trip. My intention is more to show the creative process, and invite people into the process. People don't always know what goes into making a song with the producers, and the engineers, and the musicians and the mixing and the mastering, not to mention the writing of the song. It’s a creative undertaking that people spend their whole life mastering the craft of. And it's just something that I'm really, really passionate about.

I’m the co-producer of all my records along with Ric Wake. So, I would like to be known as someone who is passionate and wants to be involved in all aspects of my craft. I think that kind of entrepreneurial spirit is something that's very modern and exciting. In the modern music industry we have more opportunities to be involved in aspects that we want to be as artists, and technologies allows that to happen. So it's a real joy for me. As you can see from the video, I just love putting together parts together, layering sounds. It’s just a blast.

One funny part of the video comes after working and working you listen back and say, “I think we overdid it.” How do you dial it back when you feel like you hit that point? 

You usually get to a point where it starts the law of diminishing return, and it's pretty obvious. I would say the biggest challenge, the thing that can be hard to decipher, is not when you've overdone it, it’s more like when you get so detail-oriented that you just lose all perspective. Ric, my co-producer, is really, really good about keeping a perspective and an overarching vision for the song, so we work really well together as partners. But yeah, it is tempting, especially when you're a major production nerd, to overproduce it and overdo it. But that's part of the process too. That's how you learn.

You cite a number of musical references in this video. In six and a half minutes there's references to Tom Petty's “Learning To Fly, The Corrs’ “Breathless,” the Go-Go’s, Rick Springfield’s “Jessie's Girl,” Coldplay is in there, The Who, Phil Collins and Van Halen's “Jump.” Where do you find the balance between chasing a particular sound and creating something wholly original, because it’s probably easy to get lost in the chase.

Yeah, it can be, but references are kind of like buoys in an ocean. They’re a language through which you can describe to someone what you’re going for sonically in a way that is more difficult if you speak in technical terms … That gets very clinical. I feel like if I say I want it to sound like the guitars in “Jessie’s Girl,” everybody knows [what that means]. So, it's more a way that we can communicate with each other about sounds, and feelings and textures that we're going for. Sometimes I try to take a reference and match it or use it as inspiration, but it always ends up kind of sounding original just because I have such a diverse range of influences, and because you never get it exactly right.

How are you at coping during COVID? It’s a tough time for all artists. 

It's a tough time for everyone in the world. I actually consider myself really lucky, because music is an outlet. Artists are accustomed to having spent hours and days and months and years in a room by themselves. That’s part of the gig, so I'm lucky I can record and make music during this time. And, there are a lot of folks who are a lot worse off than me.  

How long have you been hosting the monthly “Art & Soul” show on SiriusXM, and what channel does that air on? 

It's on The Coffee House, which is their singer/songwriter channel. I've been doing that for about five years now. I haven't been able to do it this year because of the COVID conditions, but I hope to get back to it very soon. I really enjoy learning about other artists’ creative processes. It's fascinating to me, and I've always loved the “VH1 Storytellers” and “Behind The Music,” and hearing the stories behind the songs [as] some of my favorite artists really dive into their creative processes in interviews. I've always been a nerd like that, so it's really fun for me. 

« see more Net News