originally published: 07/18/2023
Photo by Chloe Horseman
(NEW YORK, NY) -- On July 18, 2023, the New York-based artist The Bones of J.R. Jones released "The Flood," the second song to be released from his forthcoming Slow Lightning that will be released on October 13 via Tone Tree Music. The Bones of J.R. Jones has also announced a US and European tour, with an album release show in his home state at Mercury Lounge on October 13, 2023.
Jonathon Linaberry (best known by his stage name The Bones of J.R. Jones) says, “This song was born out of late summer nights, lying in bed with the windows open. Awakened by coyotes laughing in the field next door as they were getting closer to their prey. There is something so ghostly and overwhelming about that moment. It was unexpected and incredibly disarming. I was trying to capture that feeling in 'The Flood.'”
“The Flood” follows the release of the album’s debut single “Heaven Help Me,” which has already been streamed more than 100,000 times. The track can be heard later in this article.
As the title suggests, the 12-track collection Slow Lightning is raw and visceral, pulsating with an understated electrical current that flows through his cinematic brand of roots noir. The songs grapple with doubt and desire in the face of nature and fate, and frequent collaborator Kiyoshi Matsuyama’s production is eerily hypnotic to match, with haunting synthesizers, vintage drum machines, and ghostly guitars.
“I felt very lost at the time I was writing these songs,” Linaberry confesses. “It was a moment of deep crisis and anxiety, but I knew the only way out was through, which meant I just had to bring myself to the table every day and put in the work.”
Where the most recent The Bones of J.R. Jones release, 2021’s A Celebration, drew inspiration from a trip into the vast, desert expanses of the American southwest, the songs that began taking shape in upstate New York this time around were more difficult to pin down, seeming to come and go of their own accord.
“That’s where the notion of ‘slow lightning’ was born,” Linaberry explains. “It’s about a power you can’t control, a force that’s bigger than you and follows its own path no matter how badly you want to mold or direct it. That’s what this record felt like, and it’s something I had to figure out how to embrace.”
The Bones of J.R. Jones is a New York-based songwriter, storyteller, visual artist and “one man band who can hold an audience rapt, rendering the cacophony of a stage full of musicians utterly unnecessary” (Noisey). His 2021 EP, A Celebration, was praised by American Songwriter, Under The Radar and Atwood Magazine, who called it “an intimate, visceral outpouring of vulnerability, reflection, connection, and wonder.”
Upcoming Tour Dates:
9/2 – Fairmont, WV – Palatine Park
9/7 – Buffalo, NY – Ninth Ward
9/8 – Pittsburgh, PA – Club Cafe
9/9 – Cleveland, OH – Grog Shop
9/10 – Ann Arbor, MI – The Ark
9/12 – Indianapolis, IN – Hi-Fi
9/13 – Chicago, IL – Schubas
9/14 – Columbus, OH – Basement
9/15 – Syracuse, NY – Funk N' Waffles
10/12 – Washington, DC – DC9
10/13 – New York, NY – Mercury Lounge
10/14 – Woodstock, NY – Levon Helm Studios
10/16 – Richmond, VA – Camel
10/17 – Charlottesville, VA – The Southern Cafe and Music Hall
10/18 – Raleigh, NC – The Pour House Music Hall & Record Shop
10/19 – Charlotte, NC – Evening Muse
10/20 – Decatur, GA – Eddie's Attic
10/21 – Nashville, TN – The Basement
11/8 – Amsterdam, NL – Paradiso
11/9 – Luxembourg, LUX – Gudde Wellen
11/10 – Paris, FR – No.Pi
11/11 – London, UK – Omeara
11/14 – Cologne, DE – Jaki
11/15 – Hamburg, DE – Uebel & Gefährlich
11/16 – Berlin, DE – Kantine Berghain
11/17 – Leipzig, DE – Naumanns
11/18 –Frankfurt, DE – Brotfabrik
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