Artist Name: Ashley Jones
Genre: Singer-Songwriter
Band Members: Ashley Jones (vocals, guitar & ukulele); Patasse Muhire (percussion); previously on stage in NYC and the B-Side of
Songs About Falling, Justin Depuydt (piano), Paul Stivitts (drums), Robert Hellyer (bass) and Joely Pittman (BGVs);
The World Should See Her Face was recorded with many amazing musicians in Rwanda.
Hometown(s): Tampa, New York City
Record Label: Alma Mae Records, est. 2009
Ashley Jones grew up in Tampa, FL, where she wrote her first song on a post-it note at age seven, the day her grandfather passed away. Being a songwriter was always her dream. Dolly Parton was her idol. Self-taught on guitar at age 13, before long the words on paper and the chords she played began to sound like music.
Ashley Jones' career as a musician started with coffee shop gigs during her first year of college. Eventually she formed a band, and by the time she graduated released her first EP,
Flowers On My Birthday. It was with that EP in hand that Ashley made the move to New York City where she found herself on some of the city's most notable stages for singer-songwriters, CB's, The Bitter End, The Knitting Factory and The Living Room. She released a second EP,
To Hold You Over, after a year of city life.
In 2005, Ashley left the city she'd grown to love and moved back to Florida to take care of her father when he was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. The year spent with him inspired her first full-length album,
To Feel Alive Around Here, recorded in a make-shift studio in her old bedroom. She released that album on a rooftop in Brooklyn, NY, in May of 2006, just four short months after her father passed away. Since that pivotal year Ashley's music has evolved and the reason she makes music has changed.
"I realized that I had a story to tell...a story of hope. That no matter what you go through, no matter what you've experienced, there is hope... That's how music connects people. You can feel very alone in your troubles or your day-to-day life, until you hear a song where you hear that someone has experienced the same thing."
In 2009, Ashley released her sophomore full-length album,
Songs About Falling. Composed of two sides, Side A which was recorded with Mike Beck at Secert Society Music in Brooklyn, NY, and Side B recorded live by Ken Prins at Trinity Baptist Church with Ashley's talented friends Paul Stivitts, Justin Depuydt, Robert Hellyer and Joely Pittman.
Two of the songs on
Songs About Falling were inspired by time spent in Rwanda ("Those Hills", "There Is"). Rwanda captured Ashley's heart when she traveled there in 2008 to meet the children she sponsors through World Vision. The stories she heard during her time in Rwanda opened Ashley's mind to a whole new opportunity. Not only could she express her own story through music, now she had the chance to tell the story of this beautiful country for the world to hear. So in July of 2009, Ashley set out for five months of songwriting and working with local artists in Rwanda. She hoped to capture in song the supernatural hope she had witnessed within the next generation of a country defined by poverty, sickness and genocide. This resulted in "The World Should See Her Face", an eight song EP
inspired by the amazing stories Ashley heard during her time in the Land of a Thosaund Hills.
Ashley Jones is back in Tampa, her hometown. Recently married, Ashley is now joined on stage by her husband, percussionist Patasse Muhire. Ashley and Patasse met during those life-changing months in Rwanda and now share their love story in song each time they perform together.
