I'd like to share something I don't talk about much these days: my fundamentalist upbringing and how it informs my vote.

When I was 8 years old, my parents got “born-again”. Our lives changed dramatically; my parents became radicalized and…

I honestly feel like I've been preparing for this troubling time for the last 10 years. Maybe my whole life.

When I barely escaped death in back in February 2010, I went on a journey—both musically and spiritually—to…

I’m still finding stickers on my body 
From when the nurse pulled the EKG cables off 
at the local emergency room 

I drove there on empty 
Chest pain making it hard to breathe 
And I thought about the songwriter’s…

I have a new rule: 

I can indulge in social media when I’m sick  

So sick I relish the association between sick and social. Social and sick  

Two things that sometimes make my stomach churn hard 

Linked.  

In.  

My.  

Brain. 

…

Love and Loss in 2018

Like most of us, 2018 dealt some hope but also a lot of pain. For me it was the loss of a very kind friend named Kelli Archer, from Austin, Texas.  She stuck her neck…

Well I've been back home in the cold arms of Mother Minnesota for about a year and when people ask what I've been up to I slightly sheepishly tell them about my latest music project, Bye Bye Banshee, which…

This summer, I’ve been connecting more with my roots—I grew up in rural Minnesota on 45 acres—and am being pulled back to the country life little by little. This summer has included several visits to Wisconsin, including playing a lovely…

Death is all around us. Mostly in America, we avoid it.  For some reason, it's comforting to acknowledge Lady Death and make peace with her. 

When I write a song that confronts my fears...when I sing and breathe out that…

Once we were children of the light… 
And the darkness was our maker and mover 
Lurking in the trees 
Hiding behind shady motives 
Pushing us onward 
to Armageddon.

-J. Jones

Mark Lanegan.

With that voice.

That voice like Velvet.

Like Velvet that someone got whiskey-sick on

and now it's all crunchy

but still manages to be...

pretty fucking cool.

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Album: Phantom Radio
Artist: Mark Langegan Band
Purchased gently used…

Masters of Performance: Chris Cornell, Part 2 

Note: I just woke up this morning to find out about Chris Cornell's death. He was a music hero to me, mostly because of his phenomenal, expressive singing voice and partly because…