Caroline Jones is a country music singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who released her debut album Bare Feet in 2017. Caroline has opened for Jimmy Buffett, Zac Brown, Kenny Chesney, The Eagles, and many others. She is the newest member of the Zac Brown band. Check out our Q and A with Caroline who Rolling Stone called one of the 10 need-to-know country artists.
Atlantic Ave: When did you first start opening for Zac Brown?
Caroline Jones: I first started opening for Zac Brown Band in 2017, and Zac was really the first superstar to ever give that opportunity to take me under his wing and offer me a spot on a major scale tour like that. 2017 was my first year, and then I opened for them intermittently for three years, as well as many other artists. Then I joined them on stage in the band last year.
CJ: It’s been really rich and informative. It’s been a musical masterclass for me every night as a musician, because I’m obviously a singer and songwriter, but for a long time I wanted to establish myself just as much as a musician. This is just a really unique opportunity to do that. I’ve never been a side man before. I’d always been the leader of my own band, literally. It’s just been an incredibly… Imagine having an internship or something with the best of the best, but you’re playing in front of 25,000 people. That’s the best way to describe it.
AA: You did a tour with Jimmy in 2018?
CJ: Yeah, and touring with Zac and touring with Jimmy in 2018. Yeah, that’s correct. That opened the door for me to tour with Kenny Chesney and Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, and got to open for the Eagles with Jimmy, which is just wild bucket list stuff and many, many other artists. That really opened the door for me to become an opening act on a lot of major tours.
AA: What has that experience been like of becoming a member of the Zac Brown Band?
CJ: It’s been really rich and informative. It’s been a musical masterclass for me every night as a musician, because I’m obviously a singer and songwriter, but for a long time I wanted to establish myself just as much as a musician. This is just a really unique opportunity to do that. I’ve never been a side man before. I’d al-ways been the leader of my own band, literally. It’s just been an incredibly… Imagine having an internship or something with the best of the best, but you’re playing in front of 25,000 people. That’s the best way to describe it.
AA: Your latest album Antipodes was re-leased in 2021? And where did you record it?
CJ: Yes, it was. I recorded Antipodes partly in Nashville and partly in New Zealand. Over the course of the pandemic, I ended up moving to New Zealand through a very unlikely turn of events. I met my now husband. He was moving to New Zealand to sail in the Ameri-ca’s Cup, which is the Super Bowl of sailing. He had to move there for a year during 2020. All my tours got canceled. It was just such a wild time and I ended up moving with him. I recorded a lot of the record there and it really inspired a lot of the songs, and obviously I was falling in love at the time. That was even more inspiring, and that was an incredible experience and I never ever, ever saw it coming. I’d always been really, really career focused and all about my music. I never saw myself getting married or settling down or anything like that. It was a really special time for us. He was the only person I knew there across the world. I look on that album very fondly for all those reasons.
AA: Have you gotten any new projects in the works?
CJ: I do. I’ve actually just started diving into my next project. We have a few songs done and I’ve been writing a lot of late and just been feeling really, really inspired lately. It took a while. I had such a busy summer, so it took a while to get my creative juices flowing again, but now I’ve been writing a ton.
AA: I greatly appreciate your time, Caroline. I look forward to seeing you on Sunday. Safe travels and have great shows.
CJ: Thank you so much Tom.
