Diana Jones: New Album and UK Tour News
Being alerted to an upcoming album release from “new to me” artist Diana Jones, I quickly checked out her back catalogue (loved it) and bio (intriguing)… I hope if you haven’t heard of her before you enjoy discovering about her as much as I did, and if you are already familiar with her then I’m sure you’ll want to know more about the new album and tour!
Diane was adopted as an infant and raised in Long Island, New York, where she fell in love with the music of Johnny Cash thanks to her brother’s record collection! Also drawn to contemporary artists such as Dolly and Emmylou, this passion made sense when she discovered her birth family and musical roots in the Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee, her maternal grandfather was a musician who seemingly passed on the culture and music he loved to his granddaughter.
She continued to develop as a writer and performer in the early 1990’s in the music scene around Austin, TX, gaining a strong following and releasing two albums but with the death of her beloved grandfather in 2000 she moved back to the northeastern States and entered a period of personal reflection, writing songs for herself which formed her next album, appropriately entitled “My Remembrance Of You”, released in 2006 to rave reviews internationally.
Four more critically acclaimed albums followed, the most recent been 2016’s ” Live In Concert”, and Diana has toured the globe (she has shared the stage with the likes of Janis Ian and Mart Gauthier) and appeared on world renowned TV and radio shows including Later With Jools Holland and BBC Radio 2 ‘s Bob Harris Country. Her award winning songs have been recorded by artists including Joan Baez and Gretchen Peters.
Diana’s next project, ” Song To A Refugee” is due for release on April 24th on Proper Records, and features a myriad of guest artists including Steve Earle, Richard Thompson and Peggy Seeger.While her previous writing was largely inspired by the almost mystical connection to her birth family and the music of rural Tennessee this collection sees her looking into the wider world to shine a light on current issues. The story of how the album came about really begins in 2016-17 when Diana was recovering from a serious illness caused by a gas leak in her apartment. Recovering physically, she was at a loss artistically and had written no new songs for quite a while due to her illness. In addition, she felt overwhelmed by the political environment at the time, especially the harsh realities of what was happening at the US-Mexican borders with scenes of mothers being separated from their children resonating with her own experience of being adopted.
There will be a UK tour in May/June to support the release (see below) with its lead single ” We Believe In You” coming soon.
Pre order the album here https://smarturl.it/songtoarefugee and for more information go to dianajonesmusic.com
