Getting To Know: Evan Taylor Jones
I got the opportunity to sit down with my good friend and Soul musician @EvanTaylorJones out of Orlando, Florida. He’s been making movements on the local scene  for a while now spreading his message and his beliefs through his music around Central Florida and beyond. An almost impossible interview was conducted being that in that month alone he was scheduled for 28 shows, but the active musician slowed it down a pace for a session and delved into subjects about his musical roots, spirituality and how he views Orlando. Get familiar…Â
When did you first pick up a guitar and actually start strumming those chords? Man it was my senior year in high school about 2008 or 2009, and at the time I was giving up on sports, it was either take a break or call it quits. I just so happened to get injured while playing ball which left me in a sling and my dad bought me a $75 guitar from Target as something for me to do. I was a little depressed about it, but it just fit man, I mean your in a 90 degree sling you know, so it just fit. So when you got the guitar, what made you want to keep on playing it? When most people get a guitar and they’re not used to playing its a bit daunting. I think it was just the fact that I could use a different part of my brain, it introduced me to so much intellect that I didn’t know I had. Have you always known how to sing? It was in me, its in my family so I guess its deep rooted. My father can blow, like really, had he not had me and my brothers he would’ve went somewhere. But my mother, she grew up singing the gospel choir, I used to watch her sing. I grew up around the gospel. Has that played a part in influencing you to make the type of soul music you make now? Haha, definitely man, roots music!
What about the Soul music genre that appeals to you or you feel like you can identify with the most? The honesty. You have to be honest man. If you look at a lot of the music on the radio now, theres  next to no honesty in it. I mean your 16, a pop star, and you feel that your in love already? What?! They’re singing it for other people and it’s appealing because other people can relate to it; it’s honesty in somebody else’s eyes because they have actually been through it. But as far as Soul music, its a two way street rather than a one way street. I’m expressing experience through my songs, and when people identify with the song they are also identifying with me because what I write and sing about is what I’ve been through. Most artists on the radio can’t say the same thing. What artist’s have inspired you throughout your musical journey? Definitely Marvin Gaye. Marvin Gaye man, its his story, it still inspires me man, I can watch his documentary over and over again. Stevie Wonder, almost anybody in Motown; I just watched a documentary on The Funk Brothers and they didn’t really get much recognition until Marvin Gaye took them on the road, they were working with Stevie, Lionel Richie, Gladys Knight, The Temptations, they wrote music for a lot of people. So basically anybody in Motown. Uhh The Wailers, Bob Marley especially, John Legend in the now, and as far as guitar playing, BB King. BB was a beast on the guitar but you could also definitely feel what he was saying in his lyrics.
Now, what you were saying about The Funk Brothers and them not really getting the recognition they deserved, where you are at right now in your career, do you feel like you play that same role as the underdog? Or do you feel that you have showed the people and they are readily convinced? I feel like if your an artist and your trying to be successful you are never going to make it unless you learn to not get too happy about where your at, or too content you know. So i’m always going to feel like the underdog because I’m looking to be as good as The Funk Brothers, I’m looking to be as good as Marvin Gaye where he’s playing a sold out show and he can’t even get to his dressing room because so many people want to see him. And not because he’s a handsome dude but they feel the lyrics man, they feel the love, they feel everything that comes out of him. I feel like I’ll always be the underdog man, especially if I stay humble. When it comes to your music making process, how does that work? Is it more built off of inspiration, or is there your own way of getting creatively in the vibe so to speak? Music… I like playing something nice man, if it feels nice, and it sounds nice, thats the start. I have to play it first, the words come after, they sometimes come long after or shortly after. But I’d say its the melody first and then feeling it out, humming to it you know? Getting that deep hum where you can feel it in your chest, and then the words follow.
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