JP Jones - Voluntown

Voluntown was the inaugural release for Vision Company Records, a label designed by family and friends in 1991 to publish JP Jones songs and recordings. Some of the credits are unfortunately lost to posterity, particularly since the recordings came from a number of different sessions recorded over several years from New York to Boston. All of this work was considered experimental at the time, experiments which vary widely in terms of success as far as I can tell. "Ruins of the Dawn" is an egregious example. I've received standing ovations for solo performances of this piece and had numerous individuals say things like, "That song changed my life." At least one club manager asked me point blank, "Please don't play that song tonight-- there are a lot of important people in the business here"-- whatever that meant.

"New World a-Comin'" is a similar problem child, overwrought to say the least. A much better version, closer to the original concept, appears on Jeremiah. A curious note: on a Bill Moyers special in the late 80's/early '90's on PBS he was interviewing a poet (Maya Angelou?) who remarked that her grandchild(?) had written a song with the lines, "There's a new world coming and it won't be long/ where will you stand when the old one is gone?"-- virtually the same lines as in my tune. Especially odd is the fact that I wrote my song several years earlier and had in fact sent a copy to Moyer's producer.

In spite of my misgivings there are a number of tunes that I am proud of and perform live to this day.

photo: Lyn Tyler

Drums: Dave Lang, Tim Jackson, Mike Mansfield
Bass: Ed LaPerle, Richard Gates
All other instruments: JP Jones
Engineers: Lloyd Salisbury, Joe Cuneo, Michael Mansfield, Sue Forgive-Us-But-We-Can't-Find-You-Anywhere, John Pergamo
Assistant Engineers: Vinnie Bucholz, Charles Abbott, Sue T, Rob Sylvan, Chuck Taylor
Art Direction, drawings: Scott Menchin
Video Director: Michael Bianchi
Executive producer: Peggy Jones
Piano on 333 Drunkards courtesy Mama Connie's All Night Love Lines and Pleasure Emporium
Mastered by Harry Hirsch at Digital House.

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"While most artists I have worked with have a thousand things to say and only one way of saying them, [Jones has] one thing to say and a thousand different ways to say it..." --Ed Freeman, record producer (Tim Hardin, Don McLean, Tom Rush, etc.)