Released in 2009, BETTER TIMES WILL COME, was a masterclass in roots and Appalachian music. The song writing, instrumentation, and Diana Jones’ vocals remain timeless on the eleven songs with their tales of hardship and struggle. The recently released, reimagined and remastered version of the album marks the 15th anniversary of its recording. Under the guidance of studio engineer Steve Addabbo, the project has resulted in the inclusion of an additional song, Call Me Daddy, the resequencing of the running order and a version of the title track that included an additional chorus. We spoke recently with Diana about the album as she prepared to embark on an extensive tour of Europe which includes a show at The Workman’s Club in Dublin on 4th May.
You are about to start a tour to coincide with your most recent release, BETTER TIMES WILL COME – REIMAGINED AND REMASTERED.
Yes, that seemed like a good idea for a title in 2009 and even more so now.
Revisiting the original recordings must have been an emotional exercise, in particular the songs that the late Nanci Griffith sang on.
It was really interesting going back into the studio with my friend, Steve Addabbo, who's such a great engineer, has wonderful ears for a song and is such a tender guy. We were sitting there and when we called up the title track and the different versions of the mixes that we had done, we both had tears in our eyes at that point when Nanci comes in. We found one version with an extra chorus and so that's the one we used for the album. The way that Nanci comes in on that one and you hear her voice it just felt was exactly what I wanted, just more of that beautiful voice and spirit, and to remember that she was with us and that she gave us that gift.
You have altered the track sequencing also. Appropriately, given the issues at large with gun control, If I Had A Gun follows the opening and title track.
If I Had A Gun is a hard song to sing. It is an anti-gun violence song and because there isn't an actual gun in the song it's meant to be a song about domestic violence. The main issue is, if there's no gun, then no one gets shot, a very simple equation. I had a whole row of people in California once in the wine country, walk out when I started to sing that song, I don’t think they got it. That song came from a conversation that I had with my co-writers, Rebecca Folsom and Celeste Krenz. We were meeting up to share some songs and a couple of bottles of wine had been opened before I got there. We were talking about ex-boyfriends and girlfriends and husbands. The real conversation was that we had all experienced that moment of passion, mixed perhaps with anger, and discussed what might have happened had there been a gun around at that moment. All of us might be in a different place, which is a great argument in itself for gun control.
You also included the song Call Me Daddy, which was not included in the original release.
It had been recorded but it just didn't make it onto the album because it didn’t seem complete at the time. But it was great to hear it again in the studios and it did sound complete. I think at the time we also thought that maybe there were enough songs dealing with women’s safety already with If I Had A Gun and Evangelina, and we were saving it for another record. But I when I heard it again, I thought ‘let’s put this one out into the world.’
There was a sense of optimism on the album when it was released, yet fifteen years later things have not moved forward. Does that upset you?
I try to take things in small increments in my life at this point. My dad always used to say ‘a day at a time’ and when I was a kid that frustrated me because I wanted everything all at once. And now I realise the wisdom in those words, sometimes there's only so much that we can do and if we take things in a twenty-four-hour period, it seems more manageable.
You mentioned to me a few years back that you were writing your memoirs, is that an ongoing project?
I actually took a break from that and worked on another book, which I've just finished. Working on that book helped loosen something for me in terms of the memoir and I'm ready to revisit it. I think these things have their own time and there's no way that I can impose my time on it. I have given myself over to it but I can't really say when it will be finished. I would also like to make a record that has collaboration. I had that idea before the refugee record and it’s still in the back of my mind.
How difficult is it to survive as a professional artist and songwriter today?
We just do what we can. Being a songwriter and a storyteller, in general, is just a way of life for me. It is interesting in that it's easier for me to play in Europe and in Ireland than it is for a British person these days, which is really tough on my friends in England who are musicians. There are parts that are tough for all of us. There are different platforms like Patreon, which I think helps artists a lot and then there is Spotify, which has always been a struggle. For me personally, I’m putting out vinyl right now, I've also made mugs, tote bags, tea towels and some really nice posters. I’m finally taking the plunge into merchandising because I think ‘better times will come’ is a good thing to have in front of you with your cup of coffee in the morning or something.
Your tour brings you back to Ireland with a show in Dublin alongside numerous dates in the UK.
I'm really excited and so happy to be back in Dublin. I've got some time between being in Ireland and my next gig which is back in England and I’m hoping to spend some time in Ireland because I found my birth father about four years ago now. If he had been my acting father and not just my birth father, I would have been a Murphy as his whole family was from County Cork. I know he passed away in 2005 and I now know his whole family in New York, all my cousins. I don't think anyone from the family has been to Cork so I really want to go and explore some of that.
Were you aware of your ancestral background when you majored in American history in college?
No, I had no clue about my heritage at all or where anybody in my family was from. I found them the year after I graduated from college. It's an old family line that goes back to the Mayflower ship that transported families from the UK and back to other early settlers in Virginia, Connecticut, and New York. It’s kind of crazy because I don’t feel particularly proud of that colonial background at this point. I have always felt very close to the Irish culture when I’m over there. It’s funny because when I’m in Ireland people always ask me for directions.
When we last spoke back in 2020, I recall your parting comment that your dearest wish would be that Biden would be the next president and that the change of power would be trouble free. You got one of your wishes but certain issues remain volatile in America at present.
Yeah, it's hard being an American right now. I think we're going forward with certain things, but the gun laws are getting less and less. With the ongoing school shootings, you open the paper and you just expect something awful now. You have to brace yourself for it all the time; it just wears you down after a while. The three politicians who protested against the NRA in Tennessee recently, look what happened to them.
You were particularly upbeat following the release of your album SONG TO A REFUGEE in 2020. The lockdown denied you the opportunity to tour that album but you still managed to get its central message out there by other means.
I did a lot of things online, including benefits for different organizations and we did the best that we could. I think that the release date was timely given what was happening at that time, but then COVID took centre stage worldwide. But I feel that when I finally did get a tour - I was one of the first artists over in the UK and also in Europe - I think people were just so grateful to be in a room together that we listened in a way to each other that we hadn't before. That intimacy was really an experience that I wouldn't trade.
The album’s content resulted in your continuing involvement with The Hearts and Homes for Refugees organisation.
Absolutely. I’m doing all that I can do for them, all the time. It’s a grassroots community-based in New York and it's amazing the work that they do. I had a small part of helping to rehome a family at one point, which got me in touch in a really special way. That was before the pandemic. I’m still involved in raising money for them and getting their name out there as much as I can, and for other organizations as well like the Helen Bamber Foundation in the UK. I make sure to mention these organisations at my shows, so people have something that's fairly local that they can contact if they want to help.
I was recently reminded by one of my colleagues in Lonesome Highway of an interview with you on one of your first visits to play Dublin. You were proudly showing off a recently acquired pair of red boots for the photo shoot and were anxious that they were featured in the photo. Do you still have them?
I do believe that they're in storage somewhere from the time I moved from Nashville to New York.
Interview by Declan Culliton
Diana Jones plays The Workman’s Club, Dublin on May 4th.