Country star Willie Jones joins Zane Lowe on Apple Music to discuss his new song “American Dream”, why he released it on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, reactions to the song from friends and family, his forthcoming album ‘Right Now’ due out this Friday, the genre’s evolution, and more.
Willie Jones Tells Apple Music About New Song "American Dream”...
"American Dream," I wrote it a few days after the 4th of July and I was just struggling to put on my red, white, and blue, but I was like, "Screw that. This is my country." You know what I'm saying? This is where my people built the country, literally, and I'm here and I just wrote it for unity, man. For me, it was just stating the truth and the obvious. To be here in America is so much opportunity. We all have a chance to really do what we want, but you got to finesse it a little different. When you're African American, it's just a different vibe, but at the end of the day, we all here in America and we all got hopes and dreams of this country just being better. Like I say in the song, "we've come a long way, but we got a long way to go," so if we just stick together and keep moving forward, I think we'll just keep moving the needle, but we have to express how we feel and talk about these things so we can open a dialogue up.
Willie Jones Tells Apple Music Why He Dropped “American Dream” on MLK Day…
It's very important that the record dropping on MLK Day and in this time, because this moment is, I feel like it's very pivotal for it for just growth in our country and as a people, and yeah, I think the soundtrack to getting your mind right, to just continue to move forward is really important. So I think this song will just be that important song to just inspire us to keep seeing each other, keep moving forward.
Willie Jones Tells Apple Music About The Reaction To The Song From Friends and Family…
Oh man, the reaction that I get when I play it for the homies and fam is chill bumps, and they feel empowered. One of my boys was like, oh, what did he say? "It made me want to read the constitution." I was like, "Sh-t, Bro," you know what I'm saying?" And that inspires us to just keep learning our history and keep moving forward. I can't say it enough, we've come a long way, but we've got a long way to go, and I think if we just keep moving the needle forward, we'll be straight.
Willie Jones Tells Apple Music About Naming His Album “Right Now”…
Just there, right there. Just staying in the present moment and just being still. I feel like the future, and this is something I've heard and it's the truth is, thinking of the future too much can make you anxious, if you stuck in the past, it can make you anxious, so I think a lot of just my experience is, I'm always just present and just there. And, yeah, when it was time to come up with the album title, and I think it's long awaited for this album to drop for me too, and I'm like, "Yo, the time is now, be present when you hear it," so straight up.
Willie Jones Tells Apple Music About Releasing Music During Quarantine…
Yeah, because the album was supposed to drop a little sooner, but COVID just kept us in the creative form. We were just trying to figure out what was happening. But I got to re-record some other songs and put them on the album and I think it's just good to just have new vibes out people just want to listen to. I enjoy discovering new music, and this is definitely a weird time to drop, but people want things to get them through. Straight up. Straight up. Yeah, and the sound, so I'm just pumped to have some sounds out for some people to do life to.
Willie Jones Tells Apple Music About Country Music’s Evolution and Representation…
Since I got into creating my own original country music, it's definitely shifted sonically, the sounds that we're using and just even the representation in country, you've got artists like like me, Mickey Guyton, Blanco Brown, Kane Brown, Jimmie Allen, BRELAND. It's just cool to see people just come in and genre and just tell our stories, tell their stories, and just continue to just open up music, because that's the vibe, bro.
