Nashville, TN. (Top40 Charts/ New Song Records) - In every conceivable way, 2006 was a breakthrough year for singer/songwriter Diana Jones. She wowed critics with her CD My Remembrance of You landing on a slew of Best Of lists. It was named the No.1 Country Record of the Year by the
Chicago Tribune and got raves in No Depression, Nashville Scene, SingOut! Magazine and Hanx.net (Netherlands).
Radio also fell in love with her heady mix of old time folk, country and bluegrass, with radio shows Americana Highway,
Roots & Branches, City Folk and Midnight Special (WFMT, Chicago) praising her latest CD. Her mesmerizing live performance helped her capture the prestigious Kerrville New Folk Award, joining an exclusive list of past winners that includes Lyle Lovett, John Gorka, Robert Earl Keen Jr.,
Hal Ketchum and
David Wilcox. Along the way, she climbed up to No. 3 on the Euro Americana Chart and nabbed Folk Alliance Nominations for Best Song and Emerging Artist of the Year. So how do you top a year like that?
Jones does it by launching an impressive national tour in 2007 of the best listening rooms and festivals in America. She'll make stops at Freight & Salvage (Berkeley, Calif.), Old Town School of Folk (Chicago), Kerrville Folk Festival, Turtle Dove Folk Club (Unionville, Pa.), San Francisco Bluegrass & Old Time Festival and the Old Settlers Inn (Moundridge, Kansas). She also heads overseas for dates in the UK and Netherlands (Blue Highways Festival). She's no stranger to music fans across the big pond-legendary BBC2 radio host Bob Harris picked My Remembrance of You as one of the best CDs of the year calling it "the best album I've heard in months and months. An absolute gem."
In naming My Remembrance Of You the top country record of the year, the Chicago Tribune raved, "Whether she's limning the despair of a dance-hall girl on 'Pretty Girl' or the aching dislocation of a Native American child on 'Pony,' Jones brings a Haggard-esque sensitivity to these self- penned songs. Like Alison Krauss, Gillian Welch and Iris DeMent, Jones is a singular voice who chooses art over easy commerce. Jones is an Americana gem" Those are the qualities that led NewSong Recordings, the record label started by the folks who produce the venerable Mountain Stage NewSong Festival, to sign Jones as the first act on the label. Gar Ragland, director of NewSong, says, "Without question, Diana Jones is one of the most talented Americana artists I have heard in years. Her music cuts straight to the soul with the economy of small batch bourbon."
Larry Groce, host of Mountain Stage, says, "Diana is a new lantern in the misty old world of Appalachian music...a fine satisfying voice in the 'O'Brother' new traditionalist style".
While there is an economy in her form and delivery-not a wasted note or phrase-there is an incredible expansiveness in the emotions she explores in her music. She mines classic American themes of love, loss and redemption with an unrelenting fearlessness. That's why the critics and fans rave when they discover the music of Diana Jones.
