Andy John Jones oozes soul with his Blues/Funk infused Soul Rock which has seen him winning the hearts of strangers as a busker on the streets of London. Learning his songwriting craft from working in McDonald’s, local pubs and as a labourer for local tradesmen, by night Andy John Jones would hone his live skills in the open mics of local boozers around his home city of Birmingham, UK.
His sound would evolve after moving to London where, come sun or come snow, Andy spent twelve hour days busking the streets of Westminster building a growing and enthusiastic fanbase. In December 2019, this fanbase crowdfunded the recording of his debut album A Night On The Boomtown, a Soul Rock study of a Friday night recorded with his band The Ginkgo Milk, due for release on streaming platforms in Summer of 2021. The thunderous three and a half octaves of his vocal range have brought him comparisons to singers-songwriters like Bruce Springsteen, Paolo Nutini and Jeff Buckley, and his guitar work has had him compared to John Mayer and John Frusciante.
His debut album, A Night On The Boomtown, is a collection of fourteen songs, written and recorded between 2017 & 2020 and inspired by various first and second hand experiences working and witnessing the various night lives of Tamworth, Birmingham and London. The album also seeks to display the wide array of eclectic influences on Andy’s musical tastes from Rock to Soul, Blues to Jazz and Electronica to Folk.
Inspired by such albums as Arctic Monkey’s AM and Bruce Springsteen’s Born To Run/Darkness On The Edge Of Town, the collection has sought to craft songs that can stand on their own, but within the context of the album, capture the mood, stories and character of a Friday night and serve the broader theme that perhaps things like a night out, youth, love, dreams and self-perception are not as glorious or glamorous as they’ve been packaged, presented and sold to the youth of today.
Andy John Jones would find his calling after skipping exams, in 2009, to go to Glastonbury music and arts festival. In the mud and sunshine Andy John was blown away by performances from Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, Nick Cave, Pete Doherty, Paolo Nutini and many more. It was during the Bruce Springsteen headline show, however, that his future would really be decided. “I only knew one song, I think. Born in the USA. That was it. But I had a friend that I went with who was really into him. He was also the headline act so we had to go and see his show. I was just blown away. This guy’s aura, his energy, his lyrics, his power, his passion…I felt like I was at church and that I’d found my religion.” Andy John Jones has since poured over music in many of its forms from Jazz to Blues, Folk to Classic Rock, Alternative Rock to Indie Rock, Soul to Funk, Rock n Roll to R&B and Dance to Pop culminating in a sound Andy defines as Soul Rock, “a sort of Soul/Blues/Indie Rock hybrid”. Some of his primary influences include Bruce Springsteen, Jimi Hendrix, Nina Simone, John Martyn, John Mayer, Ray Charles, Paolo Nutini, Gary Clark Jr., Arctic Monkeys, The Red Hot Chilli Peppers, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Black Keys and more.
Creativity seems to run in Andy John Jones’s family. On his father’s side, he is the great-great nephew of Alfred Janes a welsh painter and Dylan Thomas contemporary who composed three of Thomas’s most famous portraits. “My great grandmother was also a dear friend of Dylan Thomas’s. She used to type up his poems for him. Apparently my great-grandfather, a burly fisherman, didn’t get it at all. He used to come home from a hard days graft and exclaim ‘what pish and rubbish are you typing for him now!?’” On his mother’s side he is a direct descendent from the tenacious Sir Henry ‘Hotspur’ Percy and it is tenacity and creativity that have lead Andy John Jones to dedicate himself to a life in music.
His sound would evolve after moving to London where, come sun or come snow, Andy spent twelve hour days busking the streets of Westminster building a growing and enthusiastic fanbase. In December 2019, this fanbase crowdfunded the recording of his debut album A Night On The Boomtown, a Soul Rock study of a Friday night recorded with his band The Ginkgo Milk, due for release on streaming platforms in Summer of 2021. The thunderous three and a half octaves of his vocal range have brought him comparisons to singers-songwriters like Bruce Springsteen, Paolo Nutini and Jeff Buckley, and his guitar work has had him compared to John Mayer and John Frusciante.
His debut album, A Night On The Boomtown, is a collection of fourteen songs, written and recorded between 2017 & 2020 and inspired by various first and second hand experiences working and witnessing the various night lives of Tamworth, Birmingham and London. The album also seeks to display the wide array of eclectic influences on Andy’s musical tastes from Rock to Soul, Blues to Jazz and Electronica to Folk.
Inspired by such albums as Arctic Monkey’s AM and Bruce Springsteen’s Born To Run/Darkness On The Edge Of Town, the collection has sought to craft songs that can stand on their own, but within the context of the album, capture the mood, stories and character of a Friday night and serve the broader theme that perhaps things like a night out, youth, love, dreams and self-perception are not as glorious or glamorous as they’ve been packaged, presented and sold to the youth of today.
Andy John Jones would find his calling after skipping exams, in 2009, to go to Glastonbury music and arts festival. In the mud and sunshine Andy John was blown away by performances from Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, Nick Cave, Pete Doherty, Paolo Nutini and many more. It was during the Bruce Springsteen headline show, however, that his future would really be decided. “I only knew one song, I think. Born in the USA. That was it. But I had a friend that I went with who was really into him. He was also the headline act so we had to go and see his show. I was just blown away. This guy’s aura, his energy, his lyrics, his power, his passion…I felt like I was at church and that I’d found my religion.” Andy John Jones has since poured over music in many of its forms from Jazz to Blues, Folk to Classic Rock, Alternative Rock to Indie Rock, Soul to Funk, Rock n Roll to R&B and Dance to Pop culminating in a sound Andy defines as Soul Rock, “a sort of Soul/Blues/Indie Rock hybrid”. Some of his primary influences include Bruce Springsteen, Jimi Hendrix, Nina Simone, John Martyn, John Mayer, Ray Charles, Paolo Nutini, Gary Clark Jr., Arctic Monkeys, The Red Hot Chilli Peppers, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Black Keys and more.
Creativity seems to run in Andy John Jones’s family. On his father’s side, he is the great-great nephew of Alfred Janes a welsh painter and Dylan Thomas contemporary who composed three of Thomas’s most famous portraits. “My great grandmother was also a dear friend of Dylan Thomas’s. She used to type up his poems for him. Apparently my great-grandfather, a burly fisherman, didn’t get it at all. He used to come home from a hard days graft and exclaim ‘what pish and rubbish are you typing for him now!?’” On his mother’s side he is a direct descendent from the tenacious Sir Henry ‘Hotspur’ Percy and it is tenacity and creativity that have lead Andy John Jones to dedicate himself to a life in music.