Jamestown Revival’s newest album, San Isabel, is all about finding the quiet between the noise. When asked about its recurring themes, band member Jonathan Clay stated, “We wrote this record with sort of an overarching theme, which is cutting out the noise for a minute and maybe stepping away from social media, from the internet and from the complicated, busy nature of most of our lives—and focusing on existing for a minute. If this record inspires people to do a little bit of that, then we would be really happy with that result.”
Ahead of its 14 June release on Thirty Tigers, the folk-rock collective is serving up previews in the form of brand new singles. The latest is ‘Round Prairie Road’, which you can give a listen below. As promised, the tune maintains that warm, ruminative feeling of nostalgia and seeks its focus on uncomplicated, unvarnished beauties.
For Folk’s Sake was privileged to gather answers to its ongoing ‘FFS 5’ series of interviews from Jamestown Revival’s Zach Chance in light of their forthcoming release. San Isabel is available for pre-order now.
Please tell us a bit about yourself. Where are you from and how did you get started in music? Any defining moments along the path to present day?
We currently reside in Austin, Texas. Jon and I met when we were fifteen years old in Magnolia, TX and started writing songs together shortly there after. Since that time we’ve lived in California and traveled all over the US playing and performing songs together.
As an artist, how do you define success?
Paying our bills as creators and finding a way to maintain some sense of integrity while we do it.
What do you find to be your greatest struggle when it comes to the music business?
I think as a musician you start performing and writing songs because you love it. Once you decide to make music for a living, automatically you’ve put yourself in a compromised position. Finding ways to keep the music coming from an honest place is a constant struggle. You have to learn not to squeeze it too tight or you take all of the fun out of it.
If you could only play ONE of your songs for the rest of your career, which one would it be?
‘Wandering Man’. It’s one of the first songs we wrote as Jamestown Revival and we never get tired of performing it. It just feels good and honest every time.
Outside of music, what do you like to do that you feel contributes to the creativity that you tap into for your music?
We take a lot of influence from the outdoors. Spend time with loved ones and find ways to create or build things. Finding new hobbies that we can throw ourselves into and step away from it all.
Words by: Jonathan Frahm (@jfrahm_)