Ashley Jones Official Website




	According to my baby book, at some point when asked what I wanted to be when I grew up I answered "a songwriter" and it was also noted that Dolly Parton was my favorite. I guess some things never change... Born in Tampa, FL, into a family of educators, music as a career wasn't exactly on the radar, but that didn't keep it from being my dream. I started out singing mostly in church until a high school talent show where I played guitar and sang for a duet of "Power of Two" by the Indigo Girls. It was around that same time that I wrote my first song, sparked by seeing an ex-boyfriend with his arm around another girl. I would spend the next several years writing songs easily filed under "bitter break-up anthem" and eventually started playing out at gigs in college. It began with a few songs at a coffeehouse and eventually led to a band, a bunch of gigs, and my first recording, Flowers on my Birthday. After graduation, in February of 2003, I took that CD and made the move to NYC and right away dove into playing gigs at CB's 313 Gallery and Sidewalk Cafe. Eventually I played at other venues as well like The Knitting Factory, The Bitter End, and my most favorite listening room in all of NYC, The Living Room. My time in New York produced another recording, To Hold You Over, a six-song EP made up mostly of songs I wrote right after moving to the city as well as a few favorites from those last months of college. The city itself was beginning to make its way into my music, and I could not have been happier about it. After two years in NYC I left it all behind to move back home to Florida when my father was diagnosed with brain cancer in January of 2005. He passed away the first week of 2006. What I learned in those twelve months could make more music than I could ever afford to record or ever be strong enough to share. One thing is for sure -- my life and my music were changed forever. In 2006 I released my first full-length album, To Feel Alive Around Here, ten songs written from January 2005 to January 2006. Each song was inspired by the time I spent living at home in Florida with my family. In March of 2006 I moved back to NYC and began playing gigs with a newfound enthusiasm. I now had my father's story to share with the world through my music. The year I spent taking care of him opened my eyes to a whole new well of inspiration for writing music and added a depth to what I had to say that only an experience like taking care of him could ever have. This led me to my first U.S. tour in September of 2007. I played twelve gigs in ten cities across the country -- sharing new songs all along the way. Soon after returning from the road, in October of 2007, To Feel Alive Around Here was placed on the Official Ballot for the 2008 Grammy Awards in the Best Pop Vocal Album category, and "For Now", a song on the album, was placed on the ballot for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. The momentum that came from the Grammy ballot and the tour was shaping 2007 into a powerful year for my music, but neither one of those things could compare with the life-changing opportunity of 2008. In February of 2008 I traveled to Rwanda to build houses and relationships. I performed a concert at the University in Butare, donated guitars to a vocational school for street kids after a quick strumming lesson, and wrote two songs about my time in this beautiful country -- and those are only the music-related aspects of the trip. It was an awesome experience that changed my life in yet another way -- unlike moving to NYC and much different than moving back home to take care of my dad. And once again my music was changed as well. My vision for the future now contains two things: being a songwriter (just like my baby book says) and Rwanda. I'm still not completely sure how this vision will come together, but I cannot wait to find out. If you'd like more information on how to sponsor a child in the villages I traveled to in Rwanda, please click here to read more...