Member of Zac Brown Band and barrier-breaking artist, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Caroline Jones releases new sonically dynamic and truly authentic EP Superpower. You can listen to the EP here.
Guitar Girl Magazine talked to Jones about her expansive career, the Superpower EP release, tour, and Zac Brown Band. We even discussed Queen Dolly Parton’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction, which Caroline got to be a big part of. Read more below to find out the details!
Written and co-produced by Jones, Superpower features five tracks that embody her down-to-earth side as well as her fearless spirit. Jones not only blends genres through her production but also through creative lyricism, combining deep and playful topics throughout the body of work. Her thoughtful collaborations include features from Vince Gill and Alyssa Bonagura. Superpower was co-produced at Nashville’s Black Bird and Castle Recording Studios alongside celebrated industry veterans Ric Wake (Whitney Houston, Celine Dion) and Brandon Hood (Brett Eldredge, Rascal Flatts, Sam Hunt).
Gabbi Calvert: I want to ask about the Superpower EP. What do you want fans to take away from the body of work that you’re putting out?
Caroline Jones: This EP is pretty sonically diverse. It has five songs, and they’re all very different. There’s a kind of ‘90s country pop song. There’s like a U2 meets Keith Urban type song. There’s also a super ’80s country traditional song. There’s a bluegrass song, and then there’s kind of a “Nora Jones”y song, which is the EP title Superpower. I’ve always loved different styles of music and exploring different sounds, and I want that diversity to show on the EP.
I think it’s very evident with this project.
Thank you. I feel lucky to be an independent artist that can really follow my own creative muse. The through line for me is that I write, co-produce, and play instruments on every single one of my songs. So hopefully, that creates a sonic consistency and identity that I’ve worked really hard to create.
What inspired you to start this project in the first place?
I got into a real writing phase last fall. I find that I write in creative bursts of inspiration. I don’t have a lot of time, because I tour so much now, so as soon as I have time, I want to make a new record. I want to capture the chapters of my life that I’m in. Especially now, when I’m learning so much from being in the Zac Brown Band and touring with my band, I really want to capture my musical maturity. I knew I wanted to make a record over Christmas break, like in December and January, when I knew that we were not touring. So I just wrote my butt off last fall and came up with this collection of songs, and I brought in Brandon Hood, who, in addition to my longtime co-producer Ric Wake, came on and co-produced this record, and he really pushed me musically. He’s an amazing instrumentalist, guitar player, mandolin player, and so he taught me a lot. And it was really fun to get in the studio with him and be nervous in the studio again and push myself in a new way.
“Come In (But Don’t Make Yourself Comfortable),” is your first Top 30 country hit that is still climbing the charts thanks to its viral TikTok line dance that has been played over 540 million times – how does that feel for you?
You know, “Come In (But Don’t Make Yourself Comfortable),” is a real barnburner, boot stamper of a song, and to see it catch fire on TikTok was really, really exciting. And my first top 30 country radio hit was really, really exciting and sets up the next one. I’m very appreciative of their support that way.
I love that. I do want to talk a little bit about Zac Brown Band. How has the band mentored you and helped you grow as an artist during your time with them?
Zac was the first superstar to take me under his wing and offer me a slot on a major tour as an opening. I opened for them on and off for three years and just learned so much through trial by fire in that process because that was the first time I’d been an opening act in front of tens of thousands of people playing semi-acoustic, so I learned so much about how to play with a band and how to connect with the crowd in those years. That opened the door for me to open for Jimmy Buffett, Kenny Chesney, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, the Eagles, and these other kinds of dream bills that I was able to get on because of the chance they took on me.
But then, after the pandemic, when I got a call from Zac inviting me out on tour to actually be in the band, I was completely shocked. Now it seems so natural and like such a gift in my life that I’ve become accustomed to, but I still pinch myself like, yeah, people told me five or ten years ago that I’d be in the Zac Brown Band. I mean, I always joke like, it’s not like they’re taking auditions. So the fact that this has actually come to come to be I just don’t really know how it happened.
I know that trust and being in their inner circle is a really, really big honor and a big deal. I take it really seriously, and I really enjoy finding ways to contribute to and be in service of their music. It’s a totally different discipline and part of your brain than being an artist, you know, where you’re the captain of your own ship. I’ve had nothing but gratitude for everything I’ve learned. I’ve become so much less musically timid and more musically fluent, just by virtue of being thrown in the deep end of their shows. I just can’t thank each of them enough for what they’ve taught me and the support and hospitality and friendship that they offer me all the time. I can’t wait for this next tour.
Sometimes there’s no other way to explain it than sometimes things just fall into your lap, and the universe grants you with a beautiful gift, and that sounds like what happened?
Yeah, yeah. Exactly right. So thankful for that gift.
So for my next question, you were part of Dolly Parton’s band for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction. What was that experience like? Any fun behind the scenes that you can share or any special moments from that? I’m sure there are so many.
It’s just such a bucket list item. I mean, those aren’t even things that you dream about, you know, those are opportunities that you could never orchestrate or think up on your own. But again, these are the kinds of opportunities that the Zac Brown Band has afforded me to be part of. The Zac Brown Band was the house band for Dolly Parton during her Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction. We got to back up Dolly and her special guests, which included Brandi Carlisle, P!nk, Pat Benatar, Annie Lennox, Bruce Springsteen, and John Mellencamp. I think those were the busiest three days in my entire life because we had all-day rehearsals for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, then we had a Hollywood Bowl show at night that was sold out. Then we had my show after midnight, and then we had to wake up and do two more days of rehearsals, and then it was the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. So I just remember that being such a whirlwind, but I think my favorite moments of those three days were the rehearsals. You could really see the humanity and the friendship in Dolly and her collaborators. I felt so honored standing on stage with Brandi Carlisle and P!nk. Those two are just such incredible artists. I’m getting goosebumps literally just talking about it because it’s one of those life moments that you just say, “how did I get here?” and it was an unbelievable experience that I will never forget. It’s so cool to see them do their thing and be singularly who they are, and nobody exemplifies that more than Dolly Parton.
How has being a woman in this industry been for you as a whole? It can be really hard, especially as an instrumentalist, to pave the way in something so male-dominated.
I feel like I’ve been very blessed because I’ve had a lot of support along the way. People that believed in me, not everyone has that. I’ve had a team, especially my business partner and manager Ric Wake, who from the beginning has really believed in me and my vision, not his vision or record labels vision for who I was. Having mentors like that and industry folks that are really on your side and out for your best interests is a huge leg up and advantage.
I actually feel like, in many ways, being a woman has been an advantage to me because I think it has set me apart, especially as a multi-instrumentalist, because there are fewer of us now. There are more coming, which is wonderful. Every time I open Instagram, I see a badass young chick playing an instrument so much better than I can. I’m so inspired. For instance, Molly Tuttle, and I see this girl named Grace Bowers; I don’t know if you know of her yet. There’s just so many amazing female musicians coming up. Last year, I did a bluegrass song with an all-female bluegrass band, and I was just so inspired by the talent.
Being an instrumentalist, multi-instrumentalist, and producer, I would say the biggest challenge for me as a woman is navigating this chapter of my life. Getting married, and then thinking about at some point starting a family, that’s a whole different chapter, and that’s a whole different challenge. I’ve thought about it a lot more recently. I never thought about it in my 20s, because I never wanted to get married. Now I’m in my 30s, and it’s a new challenge. It’s really unique to being a working female who’s really ambitious, and really career-focused, but also wants to have a life and knows that that’s ultimately important decades down the line when it doesn’t matter how many records you sold.
Keep up with Caroline Jones at her website and on social media, and stream the Superpower EP on all digital streaming platforms.