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In another four or five years I want my name to be on everyone's mind. When someone says Beyonce, they say, 'Oh yeah,' and when they say Sharon Jones I'd like if they say 'Oh yeah, she's bad.' That's what I want to hear. Then I could make some money and build me a house. Instead of buying an '88 Honda and living in the projects, I could relax, retire and use the gift God gave me to make people happy. -Sharon Jones |
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Photo by John Melohy
Jones grew up on the r&b classics by artists like James Brown, Tina Turner and Otis Redding, and although the members of The Dap-Kings are considerably younger than Jones, the roots of their sound grew out of the same influences. "Just me being born in 1956 helped me be where I'm at right now. These younger guys in the group right now, they love all that old stuff, and they collect all of the classics," says Jones. "That's how The Dap-Kings got into that sound when they were 16, 17, 18. Now, they're in their twenties, some of 'em are in their 40's [and] grew up trading that stuff. I was lucky enough to be raised with it."
 The Dap-Kings |
Right around the time Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings started taking off, another young twenty-something who was raised on the sounds of Motown took interest. Neo-Soul sensation Amy Winehouse tapped the underexposed talents of the Dap-Kings for her 2006 (2007 for the States) release, Back to Black, giving her edgy, soulful voice the authenticity of the artists she grew up wanting to emulate. The success of the single, "Rehab" shot Winehouse into superstardom and helped provide The Dap-Kings with a significant degree of public exposure along the way. When asked about Winehouse's decision to utilize The Dap-Kings, Jones talks about the decision as though the group couldn't have been a more obvious choice. "Amy and her producer [Mark Ronson] had been admiring The Dap-Kings for years, and they wanted the sound and knew they couldn't go to any other band or any other label. So, they came to Daptone, and in order to get it they got The Dap-Kings."
Jones seems to harbor a subtle degree of resentment against the success Winehouse achieved with "her" backup band, but that resentment seems to be rationally overpowered by the attention the young singer's success has drawn Jones. "People ask me about Amy 'discovering' The Dap-Kings. She didn't discover them, but they play with her on MTV and a lot of people started liking her. Amy helped bring The Dap-Kings to a different audience, and now everyone's hearing about Daptone and The Dap-Kings."
While Winehouse toured with The Dap-Kings and continued to draw a huge response, Jones and company took to the studio to record their follow up their 2005's Naturally. The result of their efforts, 100 Days, 100 Nights (due 10/2/07 on Daptone Records), is a well refined blast from the past that offers listeners a hearty dose of soul, funk and r&b.
Plenty of artists today, such as Lauryn Hill and Outkast, have incorporated old school r&b into modern hip-hop but Jones doesn't want to have any part in this.
"Ain't nothing I listen to today that effects my style," comments Jones. "Nothing I've heard lately has had much impact [on me]. Everything that affects our sound is from the '60s and '70s, and to a lesser extent, the early '80s. I'd say most of the songs on this [new] album sound like they're from the late '60s. They've all got a nice and slow mellow [feel], and when I listen to them I think of Tina Turner. On one song called 'Let Them Knock,' I sing 'Getch yo self a new one,' and I feel its got a lot of Tina in it."
 Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings by Dulce Pinzon |
Because today's musical landscape has little or no impact on Jones' sound, one has to wonder how Jones and The Dap-Kings manage to create music that can successfully convince a listener it predates the Civil Rights Movement. "We just attribute the sound to what we hear and what we like. We just feel it," Jones says. "We don't try to say, 'Let's make a song that sounds like this.' We just start playing something in the studio and it sounds like something from way back then."
With the forthcoming release of 100 Days, 100 Nights, the group has high hopes for success, and for good reason. Their touring schedule has brought them to bigger venues, their music has been used to market multiple major brands and the media has begun paying them more attention. It seems as though everything is falling into place for Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings to break into the mainstream. However, whether their new album is a smash hit or a crushing disappointment in the business sense, Jones' hopes for the future seem to be broader than any sales expectations.
"I just hope in five years I could tour Japan and Hawaii, just different places. I just want more people to hear about our stuff. I just want to be heard," Jones says. "In another four or five years I want my name to be on everyone's mind. When someone says Beyonce, they say, 'Oh yeah,' and when they say Sharon Jones I'd like if they say 'Oh yeah, she's bad.' That's what I want to hear. Then I could make some money and build me a house. Instead of buying an '88 Honda and living in the projects, I could relax, retire and use the gift God gave me to make people happy. With Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings, it comes from our hearts. And whatever comes from the heart will reach to the heart."
JamBase | Soulsville
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