SIX POINTS MUSIC FESTIVAL
JUSTIN JONES & THE DRIVING RAIN

Justin Jones and the Driving Rain were amazing considering a few hardships; a crowd that quite literally were banging into Tom's guitar and banjo with their comings and goings; a sound system that hummed and sputtered until they went acoustic and shut down the amps; and various other assorted sound system bugs. Thru it all, Justin's lyrics and vocals shined with a mix of work from his newest CD "Love versus Heroin" and his prior amazingly beautiful, "Blue Dreams"...and despite the battering and a hot mike or two, Tom didn't miss a lick.

-www.dcist.com

DC PULSE
March/April 2005 #02
 
Justin Jones
Blue Dreams
 
Songs of heartbreak, loss and redemption, you’ve heard it all before right?  WRONG!  Washington, DC’s own Justin Jones, by way of Rawley Springs, VA, has more soul in his itty-bitty pinky than an entire crop of northern VA yuppies.  Deeply personal lyrics delivered with conviction by a voice that sounds as if its been weathered well by whiskey and cigarettes in his young 25 years.  The melodies might lead you to believe he is a standard southern troubadour.  Whichever way you see it, lyrically “Dreams” has a bit more sun to it than you might think.  What else could you possibly need?  Oh, right, you need to get off your ass and get to one of his shows.  Blue Dreams does a descent job of re-creating the intimate setting of a personal show with its minimal, but effective production.  Besides occasional acoustic solo’s, harmonica licks, and vocal harmonies, the entire record consists of Jones and an acoustic guitar.  It just doesn’t let in all the emotion you get when you see the talented songwriter perform.  From first hand experience, that’s where the “magic” happens.  If you want to be in the know, love blues and folk music, and are tired of the lack of talent in the area, quit bitching and look no further than Mr. Jones.
 
-Mike Dugan

earvolution.com

Justin Jones is a brilliant new singer song-writer from southern Virginia. He has an easy-like-Sunday-morning sound reminiscent of Gram Parsons and early Tom Waits. Whether you call it alt-country or hillbilly soul, his debut Blue Dreams is a heartfelt collection of story-telling songs delivered with a stunning authenticity. What distinguishes Jones from the bevy of singer song-writers of today is his ability to tune out the world, to lose himself in his craft. While others are busy proving themselves radio-worthy and struggling with the weight of their own self-consciousness, Jones delivers his haunting stories with the poise of someone who will be content with his music whether he becomes a star or not. Because of this, he is much more poignant and heartbreaking than those other guys who are trying too hard to capture something that comes to Jones naturally. Check him out here and get on the bandwagon before he explodes.

-Heather Huff

Testimonial from a fellow colleague and devoted fan

As a bass player always looking for work, I received a call to play a handful of gigs with an up-and-coming Virginia singer/songwriter, so, I accepted the job as I would any other. When I met and played with Justin Jones, however, I realized I had stumbled upon something special. As a person, he's incomparable. He's a walking contradiction: vulgar yet profound, loud yet pensive, a jerk yet the best friend you could ever hope to have. He possesses a magnetic personality and more importantly, I quickly realized that Justin was not just a typical songwriter.

His songs stand up and demand to be heard. They are tales of heartbreak and addiction, joyful poems, anthems unintended for the stadium but for the lonely bedroom. Having suffered abandonment, addiction, and loss, thirty seconds of one of Justin's songs has more soul than an entire hour's worth of radio-friendly monotony. He's a soulful singer with both his harmonica and voice--I hope to see his music make it to the masses for their sake and not just his own.

  - Dave Hartley (Pepper's Ghost)

What They Say About Justin Jones...

Justin Jones & The Driving Rain
Love Verses Heroin

Contrary to popular belief, I love country music. Now before you click the little 'x' in the top right corner of the screen, let me explain that my definition of "country music" seems to be different than most people's definition these days. You're likely a fan of country music too, you just don't think you are. My friend Kyle David Paul expressed views very similar to mine in an article entitled Twang Love. He expresses himself in a much more articulate way than I ever could so I highly encourage you to check it out.

Once you've done so, and you've come to the realization that you actually love country music, I would like to introduce you to Justin Jones and the Driving Rain. The new CD "Love Verses Heroin" will break your heart, give you hope, and break it all over again. The melodies are simple, but exceptionally strong. For this style of bluegrass meets alt-country meets folk and rock, the sale is only successful if you can sense that the artist has lived it. And like his counterparts Bob Dylan, Steve Earle and Blue Rodeo, there's no doubt in my mind that Justin has. The song "Dying With You" is sung with such an emotional intensity, that I found myself simply repeating the song over and over again. "Honey I Need You" and "Need You Around" are equally as powerful. In the liner notes, Justin says that this record is the story of the last three years of his life. While it sounds like it's been an emotional rollercoaster ride of a year, it makes for one great sounding record.
-taken from itsnotthebandihateitstheirfans.blogspot.com
author unknown

ROCKTOWN WEEKLY
CRESCENDO: Jones' career on the rise
The first song on Justin Jones and the Driving Rain’s latest album, “Love Verses Heroin,” is called “Hope.” It’s fitting when one considers the motivating theme behind Jones’ songwriting. “A lot of people think my music sounds depressing,” said Jones, 26, the band’s lead vocalist, guitarist and harmonica player from Raleigh Springs. “But it’s actually about hope.” And hope has been a necessity in Jones’ life. From a dark battle with drug addiction to the passing of his stepfather in 2002, he’s kept his hope alive through music and vice versa. The band’s sound, a soothing blend of bluegrass, rock, country and folk, has gotten him through the tough times since its inception a year ago.

Now a D.C. resident with two albums under his belt, Jones is working on a third and taking potholes in stride. In 2005, he won a wammie award from the Washington Area Music Association (WAMA) for Best New Roots Rock Vocalist. Jones’ musical career could be compared to a crescendo, which he says is still on the rise. “Everyone has differing degrees of success,” Jones said, lighting an American Spirit cigarette with a match from a worn matchbook. “Of course I want to be further along in my career, but I’m still going up.”

Jones began his on-stage music career as a solo act playing open mic nights in North Carolina. But he’s been writing songs since he was 14. And he’s been playing the guitar for much longer.
“My uncle put a guitar in my hands when I was 3,” said Jones, his long hair stuffed under a mesh baseball hat and his thin dark beard more closely resembling week-old stubble. Tattoos creep out from underneath the sleeves of his vintage western shirt. As a child, music and the arts surrounded Jones, leading him to embrace expression through creative mediums.
His mother, Lauren, was a singer and an actress with the Parallax Theater in Washington, D.C., before it moved to Los Angeles. His stepfather, Mark Hurwitz, played the blues harmonica in a blues band out of D.C. called Tough Luck. “He nicknamed himself Lips Lackowitz,” said Lauren. “As a joke.” In 2002, Hurwitz died after suffering complications from diabetes. The following year Jones released his first album, a solo CD called “Blue Dreams,” on which appeared a song about his stepfather called, “You Ain’t Around.”

‘Heart of Stone’
Jones, who split his time between Spotswood High and Turner Ashby, now has two jobs, both at the same location. A bartender at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C., he performs there when he’s not slinging drinks. That’s how he planned it. “I intended on working at 9:30 when I came up here,” Jones said. “They gave me the job and I’ve been there for three years now.”
Now Jones, along with J. Tom Hnatow, all around instrumentalist, Andrew Nelson on bass and Adam Dawson playing drums, are working on a third album. “We might call it Heart of Stone,” said Jones. “That was the original band name. I think it will be out next February.” Jones says he wants this one to be more of a country album. It fits his influences: Steve Earl, Muddy Waters and Bob Dylan. Jones knows what he’s getting into. And hope keeps him going. “This can be a pretty discouraging business,” he said. “The practicing, scheduling and promoting part sucks. It’s awful. But then the show is great, and you start all over.”

Written by Jill Yaworski, assistant a&e editor   

The Little Grill hosts big voice over weekend
Tables were carried out of The Little Grill to make more seating room for Justin Jones and the Driving Rain. “We have a fire occupancy level,” said one of the restaurant’s waiters to the crowd. “So if the fire marshall comes, just look small.” Justin Jones and the Driving Rain took the tiny stage with only two microphones pointed toward them and began the acoustic show. Jones strummed simple chords on his six-string guitar and closed his eyes. To any new member in the audience it was an unimpressive start: no extraordinary Hendrix-like runs or technologically vamped sound that’s popular nowadays. Jones’s loyal fans, however, braced themselves for what they knew was coming.
Jones opened his mouth and began to sing. His voice became an instrument in itself, and soon it was obvious he didn’t need any tricky guitar playing — his voice was enough on its own.

The 26-year-old Jones grew up in Raleigh Springs, a town about 20 miles outside of Harrisonburg, and attended JMU for two-and-a-half years. It was no surprise he would grow up to become a musician. “My family is all musicians, so I’ve been playing the guitar my entire life,” Jones said. His dad was part of a D.C. blues band named Tough Luck, and his mother was a singer and actress.

Accompanying Jones’s voice were Andrew Nelson and J. Tom Hnatow. Nelson played the bass and has been part of the Driving Rain for eight months; the multi-talented Hnatow has been playing with Jones for about two years. Hnatow supplied the mood for each song by switching between four different instruments, including a banjo and a lap steel guitar, which contributed a twangy, old blues sound. Hnatow, who began his musical career as a classical pianist, eventually took up the guitar. “I pretty much had to play the piano and I hated it,” said Hnatow. “So I switched to the guitar and that’s how I learned to play the other instruments.” Justin Jones and the Driving Rain sang a mix of songs from their first album and ones from the album that will be released at the end of the month. From a sing-along to a lullaby, Jones’s music was based on life experiences that touched on a depth of emotions. This was the third time the band has performed in Harrisonburg, including when the trio opened up for Dave Matthews Band collaborator/guitarist Tim Reynolds earlier this fall. In February they will be traveling to several places, including Philadelphia and Baltimore, to promote their second album.

As for the future of his musical career, Jones does not have any huge aspirations. “My goal is just to sustain a living off of writing and playing songs,” said Jones. “I’ve got no ill-conceived notions of being a popstar. I don’t think it’s far-fetched to just make a living playing music.” Jones’s biggest fans are his family and friends. Present in the crowd was his mother and grandmother, as well as many personal friends that knew every word of his songs by heart. Jones’s voice and unproduced blues sound by Nelson and Hnatow provided a simple, yet strong performance that left the crowd scrambling for the last four available copies of his first album after the show. For more information about Justin Jones and the Driving Rain, visit myspace.com/justinjones and justin-jones.com.

EASTERN SURF MAGAZINE
Volume 13, Issue 98 August 2004

By: Ben Pratt

There's a very powerful voice coming out of Washington DC these days. The masses may not have heard of Justin Jones yet, but the Virginia-born Jones' release of Blue Dreams and a growing number of converts is sure to change all that. Armed with just a guitar and a harmonica, Justin backs up extremely personal subject matter with superb songwriting abilities, resulting in eight introspective songs that courageously handle such harsh realities as drug addiction, abandonment and heartache.

TOP PICK
Justin Jones: A New Folk Storyteller

By Katy Hershberger
Special to washingtonpost.com/MP3
Wednesday, June 2, 2004

Folk music has always been a home to storytellers. So it's no surprise that tales of love, loneliness and drug abuse can be found on Justin Jones's new album, "Blue Dreams."

His Web site describes his brand of folk music as "Hillbilly Soul." The term accounts for his smooth voice and touch of country twang, leftover from his days growing up in southern Virginia. The new genre comes from the expressive music that has influenced him -- Led Zeppelin, Public Enemy, even the new movement in bluegrass.

"I'm influenced by any emotional music that can make me believe in what the person is singing about," he says. And his songs find that poignant place. Jones doesn't try to prove the sadness in them; he matter-of-factly states a situation and lets us draw our own conclusion. Though he says that most of his music is not based on true stories, his past -- filled with alcoholism and loss -- may have contributed to his lyrics. "That kind of thing can lead to a lot of stories," he says.

The death of his father, for instance, sent Jones into a tailspin of excessive drinking and womanizing. The 24-year-old endured and moved on.

Despite his dramatic life experiences and morose songs, Jones, who has been writing music since he was 14, doesn't take himself too seriously. "I'm not trying to pitch a sob story," he says.

"Blue Dreams" pitches Jones on guitar and harmonica. Behind Jones's own tender voice are vocals by fellow local musician Laura Tsaggaris. The eight-song CD serves as an anthology of sorts for the singer-songwriter's backward fairy tales. He writes about people as if they were characters; there's the troubled girl in "Homecoming Queen."

"The story starts in Asheville / Right behind the old Safeway / She was a bag girl / Sticking needles in her arm everyday," he sings.

Jones says the most relevant of his songs is the autobiographical "You Ain't Around," chronicling the death of his father, a D.C. blues musician in his own right.

While Jones's sort of plaintive folk may be best suited for an intimate venue, when he recently performed at the 9:30 the small, distracted crowd took notice. As some talked among themselves at the bar, newfound fans congregated near the stage during his set. Jones didn't let the attention (or inattention) faze him, but stayed relaxed and unassuming, even cracking jokes between songs.

According to Jones his music isn't very marketable in the D.C. area, his home now. However, he seems to be doing well for himself. Upon the release of his first album, he has already opened for up-and-coming singer-songwriter Josh Kelley, performing at one of the largest venues in the area -- a testament that he should be around for a while.