One Jones Brother

One afternoon a few months back I clicked on a link on the gchat profile of a friend of mine who usually has links to funny or at least novel political commentary.  I was multitasking, so I didn’t take a close look right away, but I heard some fantastic original music, that I assumed was by a famous recording office that I wasn’t cool enough to know about.

When I looked closer, I was surprised to find that my friend, who is a very talented lawyer and political mind, was the one singing.  I thought to myself, “Self, that can’t really be him.  No one is that good at that many things.”

One Jones Brother is from downstate Illinois, though he’s now in DC.  He writes most of his own songs, and sometimes also has a cover on his site.  My two favorite songs up now are Born To and Illinois.  Illinois makes me miss home, and the band tells me it’s still unfinished.  I suggested he work in the strange feeling that comes when the corn is first harvested, and you drive home one day and it’s not there anymore.  He’ll probably have much better ideas on how to finish it.

Here’s the story of One Jones Brother:

True Story: The Jones Brother Band is comprised of one Jones brother, a guitar found in the garbage, a $20 Best Buy microphone, and a laptop from 2001 with a broken screen. Update: Recently, the Jones Brother Band was fortunate enough to come across a $20 “Your First Percussion Set” at WalMart. These “instruments” are now being added into the mix. Favorites include the “very tiny bongo” and “egg shaker thing.” Sadly, the kit which included the cowbell was out of the band’s price range.

The band now goes by the name One Jones Brother, but as you can tell from its story, it was once “The Jones Brother Band.” The reason for the change is pretty funny, especially as told by the band:

Second Update: The Jones Brother Band has been renamed, “One Jones Brother,” stemming from confusion related to the similarity between the band’s former name and the name of another band, the Jonas Brothers. Attorneys for the Jonas Brothers recently contacted the Jones Brother Band’s management, pleading that the Jones Brother Band change the name of the band. Apparently, people searching for the Jonas Brothers on the internet had been inadvertently finding the Jones Brother Band’s myspace page, instead of the Jonas Brothers. Upon stumbling onto the Jones Brother Band’s page and hearing what real music sounds like, these individuals apparently stopped listening to the Jonas Brothers. Up until receiving contact from the Jonas Brothers’ management, the Jones Brother Band had never heard of the Jonas Brothers. After listening to 30 seconds of the Jonas Brothers’ music, however, the Jones Brother Band immediately agreed that changing the name of the band was of the utmost importance. The Jones Brother Band cannot be associated in anyway with the efforts of the Jonas Brothers. For those of you who don’t know anything about the Jonas Brothers, an analogy might be helpful. Imagine you were in a band named Minudo in the mid-seventies that played great music, and one fine day in 1977, you learned that there was a new Mexican/American boy band called Menudo. What would you do?

I hope you’ll listen to the music on the myspace page, add it to your favorites, and check back from time to time because new songs go up pretty often.