An Interview with Sharon Jones

Back in June, Weekly Davespeak had an opportunity to sit down with soul diva, Sharon Jones over lunch at Bonnaroo 2008. 

Sharon has been on tour with her backing band, the Dap Kings, for most of 2008, beginning with Jam Cruise 6 in early July.  She performed with Dave Matthews Band first at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, IL on 6/6/08.

Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings also open tonight, tomorrow and Sunday at the William Randolph Hearst Greek Theatre in Berkely, California.  These are the final three shows of the originally scheduled DMB summer tour.

Our interview with Sharon focuses largely on the Soul music revival of recent years and her own experience in being a part of that movement.  In the interview Sharon addresses challenges she faced as an artist and the bittersweet aspects of Amy Winehouse's fame achived using the Dap Tones Records band, the Dap Kings.  

A complete audio of this interview is available for download in our forums here.

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Weekly Davespeak:  I saw you were on Conan O Brian on Wednesday, how was that performance?

Sharon Jones: That was good, I was a little nervous.  It was my second time on Conan.  But I was a little more relaxed and I got a chance to talk with him a little more this time.

WDS: I’d like to talk about Bonnaroo briefly, it has kind of undergone some significant changes over the past seven years.  At the start its focus was on the Jam Band community but has transitioned to cover a more broad range of genres.   I was curious what kind of place you see Bonnaroo holding in influencing today’s music scene.

SJ:  Well this is my first time here at Bonnaroo.  I like this because I’ve been doing so many festivals now, and a lot of festivals are getting a lot more different groups.  This is great, and this is going to be great for me to be here.  To bad I don’t have time to see a lot of the different artists, but I already know Solomon [Burke] will be here tomorrow.  And these guys here I met them in France playing with Fred Wesley’s band.   So this is great. 

WDS:  You’ve held a number of jobs over the years.

SJ: Oh ya.

WDS: Why soul now?  Why is the soul revival happening now?

SJ:  I don’t know.  It has been around.  I think that the major labels have started to push their artists through like Mark Ronson and Amy Winehouse.  And we’ve been doing this and they couldn’t find bands at studios to record with that sound that we have—that analog sound.  So that’s why they came to the Dap Kings.  To get them behind these artists because we have a certain sound,

We didn’t try to do both.  We didn’t try to go digital, we kept our label, we kept everything analog and this is our sound and we are staying true to that.  And I guess that’s why so many artists are being discovered now.

It never stopped with us.  Its just that more people now are more interested and they’re taking an interest in us.  What we’re doing we’re not trying to change that, yet.

WDS:  Given that the soul revival’s been in effect for a while now—

SJ: This year is going on thirteen years.  When we started out maybe there was like two other indie labels in New York and London and now look.

WDS:  The prominence still feels very fresh.  What direction do you see the soul movement going.  Are there any specific bands or artists that you’d like to keep an eye on that you can support that are in this genre?

SJ:    No, not really. I don’t have time to be sitting around writing about other bands that are doing what we’re doing.  I mean, I’m 53 years old.  I’m the one that’s worried about us.  We’ve been working for thirteen years, and the band’s going to play behind this young lady [Winehouse].  And next thing you know she’s getting five Grammys with my band behind her.  And the band is grateful, we are all grateful but that should have been a Dap Tones record, that should have been the Dap Kings.  We worked for that.

They still got it—they got a reward for record of the year, producer of the year.   So, all that is good.  But just look at it.  It would have been much better if it had been us up there with our own platinum album.  But just look at years to come, our future is there and our foot is in the door now.

WDS:  You worked so hard to break through over the years after being told you could not or would not make it in the music industry.

SJ:  Ya they told me I was too fat, too short and once I got past 25 I was too old.

WDS:  Given that you had that struggle, I’m curious how has struggle influenced your life today and what words of wisdom would you have for someone who is out there and facing similar types of barriers.

SJ:  Well, they can be short and dark, they can be fat, they can be a different race.  You hang in there.  I feel that if I had gave up—in my twenties.  Because they told me I didn’t have the look, but I knew I had the gift.  If you got a gift, if you got a talent don’t let anyone turn you around.  Have that faith in yourself or have your faith in whatever and keeps you going.  Because it is for you it is going to be for you.  But you gotta hang in there. 

You have to do it for yourself.  I don’t know if a lot of people have that self-esteem.  But I’ve always felt that God gave me a gift and I knew one day he was going to accept me for my voice and not the way I look, and that happened for me.  I had faith.  Don’t give up!

WDS:  You played with Dave Matthews Band in Toyota Park and you have a gig with them in Berkley a few nights.  What’s your experience with DMB and the reason you decided to play with them.

SJ:  Well, I think they decided to get us, I think.  When we went on, of course there wasn’t that many [people] but a lot of people did see me.  When we got there was maybe about 3,000.  By the band they came on, there was maybe about 20,000.  There’s a big difference in the way the crowd moves.

But I think we picked up more.  We picked up different fans, a different audience so it is great.  And the big part is that I had never started before them.  But it was great and the audience loved that stuff.

WDS:  For your next recorded work, you had 100 Days, 100 Nights in 2007. What are your plans for your next album?

SJ:  Well you know what? We never know.  Last year, before my 100 Days, I had a movie with Denzel [Washington] The Great Debaters.   This year, of course we’re going to work on the new album probably after we finish touring.  But we still have a lot more to go before the winter comes.  So next year we go out and we tour with a new album.  So, who knows--the Dap Kings, people coming in or something comes up. 

As long as we’re dealing with our music, keeping R&B and Soul aligned, we’re going to do what we can as Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings.

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Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings' complete tour dates may be found on their official website. Photos courtesy Flikr users, Hillary Harris and Whittlz under CC license.  Special thanks to Sharon, Dwayne and Alex.