Photo courtesy of River Jones.
Independent labels have long called the northwest their home. From Seattle to Portland, SUB POP to Saddle Creek, the indie music scene has produced a marketable environment where few dominate and many are produced. Once found solely in hipster coffee shops, the music has trickled into the mainstream – with performances filling every small venue they can find.
With the advent of indie, the local music scenes in Phoenix and Tempe have seen a steady increase in venues, artists and promotion over the past few years. The weather may be dry, but the talent’s not.
River Jones and his self-titled label know this, and he is hoping to take that talent to a national level.
“We’re a city, you know,” Jones says. “There are millions of people here. But I’m not really concerned with downtown Phoenix. It’s not my job. My job is music.”
“We’re looking to develop them and pass them on,” Jones says of the artists on his label, jokingly calling his business “an independent development company.”
A poster for Michelle Blades' CD release party at the Trunkspace in Phoenix. Photo courtesy of River Jones.
The label has five signed artists under contract: Courtney Marie Andrews; Michelle Blades; You, Me and Apollo; Owl & Penny; and Saddles. But Jones estimates he works with more than 20. Currently working on albums with The Pioneers of Prime Time TV, Asher Deaver, Steff Koeppen and several others, Jones says his label expands due in large part to the relationships between artists. Artists often play on each other’s records or are on the bill for each other’s shows.
“A lot of kids across the country are recognizing that Arizona is a mecca for this sound,” Jones says. “It’s an unnamed sound. It’s great songwriting, young people making good music.”
Jones believes in young talent. He met Courtney Marie Andrews, arguably the best known musician on the label and first recorded act, more than two and a half years ago at a downtown art gallery. He discovered philosophy sophomore Michelle Blades at the Downtown campus and just finished her first full-length album.
Jones credits Andrews, a quiet 19-year-old with a powerful stage persona, as the reason for the label. Since their early albums together Jones has brought Andrews into the business and recruitment side of the company, calling her “our A & R department,” seeking her opinion on signed and new artists.
Jones says he hopes Phoenix continues to produce the unique musical acts its become known for. He says the constant influx of “transplants” to the Phoenix area can only help the community and diversify the sound. Still, he admits it might take some getting used to for an older generation of rock ‘n’ rollers.
“It’s going to take a while for a lot of older people in the music scene and community to recognize the younger generation,” Jones says of his label’s talent. “[But] I was blown away by all of them.
“It’s not traditional folk or modern folk. We’re just singer-songwriters,” Andrews says. “I feel like we’re all different enough where you can’t mistake one of us for another, but we all have that same element that makes us listenable.”
Jones refers to this sound as “Arizona folk,” a term he says is used by the his indie Internet audience. The music was showcased at the Final Folk Festival at Modified Arts on Nov. 29.
The show was one of the final indie rock shows at the Downtown hipster hangout before the venue changed ownership and direction. Jones says he used this as an opportunity to move away from promotions and focus entirely on his artists.
"I feel like we're all different enough where you can't mistake one of us for another, but we all have that same element that makes us listenable," says Andrews. Photo courtesy of River Jones.
“Concerts are fun, but at the end of the show you have nothing [tangible] to show for it,” Jones says.
Instead, he left the promotions up to the Color Group, a management agency that has worked closely with Jones in the past. A young duo with ties to ASU, the group has done a lot with Arizona folk and local artists.
“We’ve been working very closely with River for awhile now,” says Jeff Taylor, a business management freshman and co-founder of the Color Group. “We feel like that’s the next up-and-coming thing. River is a great person in local music. [He's] where we get a lot of our inspiration from.”
The Group and Jones share artists, which only perpetuates the closeness between them.
“It really does unify people,” Taylor says. “The artists have a lot more in common due to River.”
“Everyone you talk to is going to be really friendly,” Andrews says of the artists. “We all just really like to make music and believe in the label.”
These types of relationships create a personal feeling throughout Jones’ label, something that directly translates to the albums he’s produced and the feeling that invokes – a shared experience, a feeling of honesty and closeness. It makes the audience sit up and take notice.
“I think people are really catching on to what River is doing,” Color Group co-founder James McInnes says.
With what seems to be a hand in every aspect of the scene, it’s hard not to.
Contact the writer at Janessa.Hilliard@asu.edu
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