Focus: Daniel Jones

Who are you and where are you from?
My name is Daniel Jones, I was born in Middlesbrough but lived in Guisborough for most of my life until I was 25, I moved away for work to France at this time and I have lived there ever since, but all my family and friends are scattered all over the North East and I miss the place dearly.

What is it you do?
Professionally I’m a historical guide with a deluxe tourism company here in France, but as the pandemic hit I was forced out of work and had a powerful craving to play and write again. It’s always been in my mind to feed my musical craving for many years and this was a perfect opportunity, so I set myself a mission to write, record and release an Album in the time I had no work. My Album called For One Day was recorded and released the 15th September 2020

How long have you been doing it?
I had a very early interest in music from an early age, being raised on rock ‘n’ roll, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley and Eddie Cochran to name just a few, I started playing guitar at 13 years old and started composing at 15, at 17 I was the vocalist in a rock/blues set up in the north of England and recorded a 9 track original album at the age of 19. My musical tastes have grown over the years, including Jazz Manouche, folk, rock, and classical

What inspires you?
Nothing inspires me more than a beautifully crafted lyric to express a particular opinion or feeling. I guess it’s every songwriters dream to achieve this and I strive in every song to get better at it.

Tell us about your music.
My Music style is classified as singer songwriter, but because I have been interested musically in so many different styles of playing, I find it hard to classify it in a box, my Album was Folk alternative I guess, but my new acoustic live album has Jazz influences and even country! I’m very proud of what I achieved with my first Album release, the second single I released off that album entitled Old Home Town was a homage to me missing the life of the North East, the bars, the characters, paying a round. It was picked up by BBC Tees with Gary Philipson, I was invited on air for a live interview and they played my song. I’ve also been a regular on Zetland FM with Karl Bavin, and had several acoustic lounge spots on Hayes Fm with Jerome Marcus in London,

What have you got coming up in the future?
I’ve been working with a dear friend and incredible musician Julien Diot for over a year now, he’s added a lot to my music including strong melodic double bass and harmonies, we’ve just finished an 8 track acoustic album, all recorded live,  the first single off that Album Paint it Grey was released the beginning of March with a feature on London Radio, with the second single and title track been released the 7th May, the full album, Place We Call Home, will be released in June.

Where can people find out more about you?
My music is available on most platforms, including Spotify, Apple, and Deezer just to name a few, but I’m very active on Instagram and Facebook.