Andrew Jones has been getting around a lot lately. It is not just his construction and maintenance business that sends him around North Texas, it is his part-time job as a musician that has him putting on the extra miles.
Jones performs about three times a month in a 200-mile radius of his Aledo home, performing country music solo and sometimes with a partner. When it comes to performing close, he tends to play Jake’s Burgers in Aledo, 589 BBQ on N. FM 730, Tavern on the Lake on Lake Weatherford, and Fort Brewery in Fort Worth.
He recently trekked to Dallas to play four shows at the State Fair of Texas.
His shows feature country standards and popular tunes sprinkled with a few of his self-penned songs. Over the summer, Jones spent time in a studio recording his song, “Americana,” and reinforcing it with a music video filmed at locations in and around Aledo. His music video helps him fish for radio and internet radio airplay.
“It’s really good to have something like that produced for you,” Jones said about the song. “I’m ready to do the next one.”
The performing bug bit Jones early in life. His first performances were at age five singing to a radio in front of family and friends. His first professional gig was with his country band before a Toby Keith concert at the Dallas Smirnoff Center, now Dos Equis Pavilion.
“I started really practicing to sing when Randy Travis came out with the album The Storms of Life. That was probably late 80s,” Jones recalled. “I had a cassette tape of that album and I sang that thing over and over and over. That is the thing that got me thinking that I can do this.”
Jones shares that as a successful performer you can’t just play songs you want to play. You have to read the crowd and play popular tunes they will enjoy and when the time is right, play a couple of original songs.
Jones shares his method for balancing a popular singing act while working on honing and promoting his own music.
“I write stuff every day. It may not be a song. It may just be some stuff,” he said. “I work a couple of my songs in during a show but you have to be aware of what the crowd is like. I am cautious not to play too many of my original songs. You have to be looking and scanning the crowd to determine what they may like.”
His performing schedule and music video, “Americana,” produced by Christopher Amos, is online at www.AndrewJonesMusic.net.
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