Caroline Jones has been writing and performing country music since visiting Nashville for the first time as a teenager — but Jones’ career reached new heights when she joined Zac Brown Band in 2022.
“Carrie sticks out because I opened for her last year and we had a great talk about how to sing and tour and maintain your vocal fitness while pregnant,” she told Us. “At the time, I was in my second trimester, and I was really nervous. I tore it up until I was nine and a half months pregnant. So just picking her brain about it and getting her declaration of faith that I could do it was really cool. She’s such a vocal powerhouse, so I took her advice.
Then the pandemic hit, and I was working on my second record, Antipodes, and I got a call that they were beginning touring again post-pandemic. Zac invited me out on the road with them, and I was totally shocked because I just couldn't believe that he actually wanted me to come play as part of the band. I was very honored and they just kept inviting me back.
Us: Being the only female member after so long, what is that like to sort of be a part of that movement with the band? I think it's such a big symbol to have that representation. CJ: Obviously everyone's heroes are Loretta and Dolly , Emmy Lou , etc. But in terms of women musicians, I love that Mother Maybelle Carter was basically the founder of country music, and she was the OG female guitar player. She actually invented a lot of the finger picking and cross picking techniques that have become a staple in bluegrass and country.
Us: I know Jimmy Buffett is one of your biggest mentors. Talk to me about your relationship with him. Kenny is just a really sweetheart. He really walks the walk of what he stands for, and he cares so much about his audience. He's very similar to Jimmy Buffett in that way. He just has such an understanding of who his audience is and how to connect with them. It's really inspiring. He's just a salt of the earth person. He's more shy than people would think, but he's also been a great mentor for me. To be back on tour with him now after four years is pretty cool.
As long as I can keep the schedules straight, everything else is really natural because being an artist, driving my own ship creatively from A to Z, from writing the lyrics to a song, to choosing the album cover, that is so joyful to me. I love every aspect of the creation and presentation of music. So that is an essential part of who I am, and I will never lose that.