Dustin Jones 'zooms out' to find the album within

Back in July 2022, Dustin Jones released a video for the standalone single, Ain’t Dead Yet, under the moniker Jonesy Land.

The song was more than a simple foreshadowing.

Not only is Jones “not dead,” but if his new Jonesy Land album zoom out is any indication, he has a lot of life in him yet.

“It seems like every five or so years I have something swell up inside me and the songs kind of just start flowing out,” says Jones.

“In hindsight, I can only explain it like boiling water. It just keeps heating up until it starts to boil over. And whatever has happened in those prior years ends up shaping what comes out.”

Jones, who has become known for his raucous early work with the Inner City Surfers, and later Dustin Jones and the Rising Tide, has taken a different approach to songwriting.

“This time around it’s about the balancing the act of growing older as an artist, husband and a father,” he says.

Local singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Frank Deresti took on the role of co-producer to help Jones develop the material.

“Frank was a great partner to have sit shotgun for this one,” says Jones.  

“He’s so tasteful and brings a calmness and texture to a project that only he can. These were delicate songs and there was really no one else I would have felt comfortable creating it with.”

Jones told Deresti about halfway through the six months it took to complete the album that the songs no longer felt like he wrote them.

“Once that wave washes over you and subsides it’s almost like you have come from somewhere else. And it’s a place you can only visit; you can never stay.”

When Jones first approached Deresti about helping him create a singer-songwriter record, they both agreed it had to be as stripped down as possible.

“I started trying to do the tracking myself in the common track-by-track approach but it just wasn’t feeling right. The songs sounded better to me on my phone voicemail clips with just me singing and playing them with my acoustic guitar. So that’s what we did. I went in and played the songs live off the floor, just me and my guitar, Frank with behind the board, and those are the actual takes you hear on the recordings.”

Once they captured the live takes, they built on them.

“I went into this record thinking a singer-songwriter record with just me and my guitar would be quick, but I was wrong,” he laughs.

“I have never had to work harder on an album … It was a lot of experimenting and then scrapping, regrouping and trying a different approach.”

Jones says he relied “heavily on the musical universe” to develop this batch of songs.

In fact, the name of the album came from a specific experience Jones had sitting on the edge of Lake Superior. 

“It sounds a little out there but it’s true. I sat down on this huge waterside rock for five hours,” he says.

“Near the end of time, it was as if Superior spoke to me. The words ‘zoom out’ popped into my head. So I tried it right there and then. I’d take any issue and I started to methodically zoom out on it layer by layer. It only takes one or two steps out to realize it’s not much of an issue at all. When there’s no problems it leaves the mind free to wander and work in peace. It’s art man. It’s basically unexplainable. There’s magic in those Superior waters, that much I am sure of.”

Jones says the entire album came from that “zoom-out” state of mind.

“As a teen and even well into adulthood, I wrote songs of my dissatisfaction thinking: ‘Why not live it up and enjoy the ride?’” he says.

“As you grow older, you deal with those dissatisfactions more deeply, but now with a finally, fully developed brain. My guitar is way cheaper than a therapist.”

Jones notes that it “felt good” to say things that he wouldn’t have felt comfortable saying in a conversation.

A collateral bonus for Jones is that his children are now old enough to be aware of the recording process this time around.

“My wife Melanie had to explain to them early on: ‘Dad is in album-making mode,’" he laughs.

“They hadn’t seen me quite like that. Long hours in the studio … and in that hyper creative-aware state, always ready to receive some transmission. I’m glad they got to see and experience the process start to finish.”

He is also glad his children can sing along to a song like Keep Tryin instead of early songs like Booze and Doobs (Inner City Surfers).

When Jones recently produced jazz artist Matt Warnock’s latest album, he came to a realization.

“The jazz guys just roll tape, roll in the room, knock off a bunch of music that captures them at that time,” he says.

“So that’s what I went on to do. It’s a batch of songs that mean just as much to me together as apart … all I know is that I said what I wanted to, meant every word I said, and I’m happy with the way I sound saying it.”

The album features guest appearances by local musicians Shannon Moan (Keep Tryin), Al Watson (Ode to the Boys), Erin Antonello (Superior Sons), and of course, Frank Deresti.

Jonesy Land’s zoom out will be available for streaming today, May 31, on all the usual platforms.

Find out more about Dustin Jones and Jonesy Land here.