Caroline Jones

Singer and songwriter Caroline Jones built her foundation in pop and contemporary folk before scoring her breakthrough with a track targeted at country listeners. Prior to that success, every release from her 2011 debut Fallen Flower onward appeared on her own imprint until "Tough Guy," drawn from the 2018 album Bare Feet, carried her onto the U.S. charts and into the country mainstream.

Jones entered the world in New York City, spent her childhood in Connecticut, and embraced music while still very young. At nine she persuaded her parents to arrange vocal instruction, driven by a desire to master Céline Dion's "My Heart Will Go On," and at ten she composed her earliest original piece. After piano lessons she added guitar, banjo, and Dobro to her instrumental command. Her first trip to Nashville came at sixteen; attending a songwriters' night at the Bluebird Cafe sharpened her resolve to emphasize composition. She later settled in Florida, immersing herself in the work of Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, and Hank Williams. Songwriting refinement accompanied a return to New York City, where she began performing regularly. Through a partnership with Stedman Graham and the Sonima Foundation she presented concerts at schools and colleges via The Heart Is Smart, an initiative that promotes music and songwriting as vehicles for personal expression. She additionally hosted Art & Soul, a satellite-radio program featuring conversations with fellow artists about the songwriting process.

January 2011 saw the arrival of her self-released debut Fallen Flower, followed swiftly by Nice to Know You in January 2012 and Clean Dirt in March 2012. The prolific Jones issued a fourth album, The Heart Is Smart, in September 2012, plus multiple digital singles across the ensuing four years. In 2016 she joined forces with producer Ric Wake, whose résumé includes the Céline Dion recording that had inspired her as a child. Those sessions showcased Jones not only as vocalist and songwriter but also as multi-instrumentalist, performing every part except bass and drums. An early result of the collaboration was "Tough Guys," a track exploring female empowerment amid male-dominated circumstances; released as a single in October 2016, it rapidly gained traction through satellite radio and online streams. "Tough Guy" elevated Caroline Jones among country's emerging talents, and touring as an opening act for the Zac Brown Band broadened her reach. A performance at a hurricane benefit concert brought her to Jimmy Buffett's attention; impressed by her approach, he signed her to Mailboat Records. The label issued her fifth album, Bare Feet, in March 2018, which she co-produced with Wake. The project became her first Billboard-charting release, reaching the Top 20 on the Heatseekers, Independent, and Country Sales lists. The following year she released the EP Chasin' Me.