MANSFIELD – Noah Jones is a reporter by day and a musician by night.
Richland County first met Jones in 2016 when he moved to Mansfield to work for the Richland Source. He quickly found a niche covering the local music scene, but recently he has reintroduced himself as a musician, too, with the release of his debut album, “Love of Mine.”
“At one point, I shared a song that I wrote on Facebook, and it got enough appreciation from my Facebook friends that I decided, maybe there was something to it,” said Jones, who identifies as a folk musician.
Jones shared his music again at a few open mic nights, and then performed at the Mansfield Playhouse’s “I AM Talented” competition in July, where he was named Richland County’s most talented.
“That was the first time that I had enough self-confidence to be like, maybe this is something I can do,” Jones said.
Jones said he has no interest in being “rock star” or anything else “seemingly out of reach,” but at this point he is hopeful about his future in music. Releasing an album finally seemed “doable.”
“Love of Mine,” features seven of Jones’ original songs: “Dating,” “Praying,” “Love of Mine,” “The Night,” “Generic Love Song,” “Future,” and “Julia.”
“What I was trying to go for was a love story,” Jones said.
The album starts with the song, “Dating,” which tells of heartbreak, but ends on a more optimistic note with songs like “Future” and “Julia.”
“Dating is not fun, especially in today’s age where everything is so unofficial until it is official, and in this particular song, she ends up leaving me for someone else, and it’s about getting over it,” Jones said about the first track on the album.
Before writing the title track, “Love of Mine,” Jones had just experienced a string of bad first dates.
“It was just saying, if the right one is out there, could you do some work, too. I’m kind of tired of doing all the work,” Jones said. “It’s one of those ‘woe is me’ songs,” said the artist, who believes its easier to write sad songs than happy ones.
But Jones takes a more positive outlook starting with the album’s fifth song “Future,” which is inspired by his grandparents.
“I was at a wedding with my whole family. And the DJ calls all the married couples up to the dance floor,” he recalls.
He slowly asked the couples to sit back down, if they’d been together only one year, five years and so forth. As more and more couples left the floor, Jones noticed that his grandparents were still dancing.
“I wanted that,” he said.
Jones sat down and wrote what he considers his favorite tune on the album, the following day.
Future was supposed to be the last track, but Jones met his girlfriend Julia, providing even better closure to his love story.
Jones was only 6 or 7 years old when he received his first guitar, but it wasn’t until his sophomore year of college that he found a passion for playing and writing music. His best friend and roommate Barry Johnson taught him at Bowling Green State University.
“Then, YouTube became my teacher,” Jones said.
A native of St. Louis, Jones moved to Mansfield in early 2016 to work for the Richland Source, where he has taken lead on the newsroom’s “After Hours Concerts.”
Sharing his songs with the music scene has been one of the most rewarding pieces for him.
“(Taj Torrence) kept telling me, he had no idea I was this good of a singer, this good of a songwriter,” Jones recalled when he was recording his album. “They just know me as being the music reporter for Richland Source … so that was pretty cool to be able to prove to musicians that I look up to that I’m not someone just sitting in a corner writing about them, I know the work that goes in.”
Though he’s not sure if he’ll release another album, Jones says, more songwriting is in his future. He’s already performed at Old Soul Vintage Records & Attire and Idea Works, but hopes to perform at other local venues, too.
“I sincerely hope that anyone interested listens,” he said.
Jones’ music can be found on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play and Band Camp.
