Karen Jonas is from Fredericksburg, Virginia. She released of her debut album Oklahoma Lottery in 2014. This was followed in 2016 by Country Songs, Butter in 2018, Lucky, Revisited came a year later and her current album is The Southwest Sky and Other Dreams. She was named Best Country/Americana artist by the Washington (DC) Area Music Awards and was nominated for a Ameripolitan Award as Best Honky-Tonk Female yet her music, in terms of quality, speaks for itself. Lonesome Highway took the recent opportunity to ask Karen some questions about the new album and life in Covid-19 times.
It is always great to hear an artist develop their talents with each album. Was The Southwest Sky And Other Dreams a difficult album in its journey to completion?
Making records is intense, but I enjoy that. With this being our fifth record, I feel very comfortable with the process and aware of its challenges. The recording process of The Southwest Sky and Other Dreams was intentionally arduous as co-producer EP Jackson and I made a decision to work slowly, honing each nuance to find the sound we wanted. But any difficulty of creating is quickly overshadowed by the excitement and satisfaction of creation.
Equally it is hard to dismiss the music you made previously that got you here even if you went back and relooked at some of those songs for Lucky, Revisited. Was that a dissatisfaction with the overall production or a feeling that vocally you could achieve more?
We released Lucky, Revisited in 2019 because I wanted to show how much the songs had changed and matured since their original recordings. I wanted a record to sell at our shows that really sounds like guitarist Tim Bray and I sounded after playing full time together since 2014. It’s dynamic, polished, and exciting.
You have released 5 albums to date. What did you learn from the process of recording them?
I learned to slow down. I learned to trust and value my instincts. I learned to work only with people who hear and respect my input. I suppose I’ve been learning about myself mostly, applying it back to the recording process.
Many of your songs have a personal aspect that has the feel of being drawn from real life experiences, both good and bad. Is it hard for you to reveal those aspects of your life?
When I think about it, it does seem strange to put so much out there. But that’s a big part of my ethos as a writer. Telling the truth is hard and important. That’s also where having a safe recording space, full of people that I trust, is so critical. These songs feel fragile at first, maybe tentative or even embarrassing. But as we develop the arrangements and get comfortable with these truths, they gather intensity and strength.
In your writing, do you draw from observation or imagination (or both) in the writing of the characters featured in your songs?
There is definitely a healthy dose of both. In some ways I create a world where my feelings make sense. A home for my thoughts. I was playing The Last Cowboy (at the Bowling Alley) at a winery gig last week (we are grateful to be gigging at all in this Covid environment), but people were sort of busy drinking and talking. I came to the line, “the kids don’t notice but, somewhere in his heart he wishes they would,” and I realized that it was as much about myself as it was a past-his-prime cowboy at a bowling alley.
When did you find that country music was your chosen path, was it something that you grew up with?
I’m not sure if I ever decided that, it just sort of happened. I’m a songwriter at heart, and that twangy sound feels honest to me.
Do you feel that the more traditional aspects of country music have a relevance today given the term these days often has more to do with diluted pop version in the mainstream?
I try not to worry too much about pop country, not because I’m a stickler for traditional country, but because there’s no point wasting breath on something so fleeting and meaningless. People are selling something and some people are buying it - but none of it feels like art to me.
Who are you influences and continued inspirations?
I love the great songwriters: Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Paul Simon. For a little more twang, I turn to Hank Williams and Dwight Yoakum. For more current artists, I love Jason Isbell and Justin Townes Earle. I was so sad to hear of his passing recently.
The opportunities to promote the new album must limited in these times. How has that figured in your day to day life?
I wish we had been able to tour to support this record. We have so much fun playing it, and the band is sounding really pro. But, maybe next year. For now, I’m here taking care of my virtual-learning kids, and trying to play as many outdoor gigs as we can before the weather turns cold.
Like some of your contemporaries such as Zoe Muth with Dave Harmonson and Eilen Jewell with Jerry Miller you have developed a partnership with your guitarist Tim Bray. Can you tell us how that came about and why it has worked?
I feel so lucky to have Tim on board. He’s just an incredible guitarist, and he’s also extremely smart and organized and motivated and fun. We’ve been playing together for seven years now. When I started planning to record my first record, people started telling me about how I needed to meet Tim. I guess they were telling him the same thing, and eventually we met and recorded Oklahoma Lottery. I think it works because of our vast mutual respect. Tim lets me handle my writing and creative aspects, and he handles a lot of business and organizational aspects of what we’re doing. We’re a good team.
As mentioned the scenario for a musician has changed dramatically over the last few months. Can you see light at the end of the tunnel?
Not yet, but we’ll adapt like we always do. It’s been a relief to play outdoor gigs this summer after a locked down spring, but winter is coming.
The overall feeling from your music is a sense of hope, uplift and moving on. Is that a part you spirit?
Thank you, and yes. I don’t underestimate adversity, and I’m not a “happy-go-lucky” type, but I find a lot of meaning in hard work, a few strong relationships, and moving on when necessary.
Do you use the current down time and the times when you were travelling to gigs to write new songs or do you gather together brief sketches of songs to work on later. I know you have family at home so that must make alone writing time a little more difficult to find the space?
It is very challenging to find space to write right now since I’ve got four kids and none of them are in their regular school. I try not to stress about it too much. I will gather inspiration and write it down when I have a little more time to think on it.
When this pandemic is under control and other things come to pass what on the agenda for you?
We were scheduled to make our first UK tour this summer but had to cancel, so we are excited to add that and hopefully some other European destinations to our schedule when things start moving again.
Interview by Stephen Rapid