HOMECOMING
Taos native Ceekay Jones enjoys getting back into NM music scene
For the past two months, Ceekay Jones has spent his time getting reacquainted with New Mexico.
He’s visited often over the past decade while he’s lived in California.
But now the singer-songwriter is back home.
“I’ve been chilling,” he says in a recent interview. “It’s been nice to get back into the local music scene again.”
Jones was raised in Taos, where he grew to love skiing and snowboarding.
Then he injured his knee and music came into his life.
He’s a solo artist now and is enjoying the freedom.
Jones has also released the third single from his coming album, to be released Feb. 28.
The single is “I Don’t Know.”
“I started working on the album more than a year ago,” he says. “
“It was an interesting process,” he says. “I was living in SoCal when I started the record. I was coming off the EP in May 2016. I began working with the same producer in Orange County. The first three songs that I’ve released are songs I did in California. Then I came to Rio Grande Studios here in Albuquerque to do the rest of the album.”
Jones says the process of writing the album was sporadic.
“I’m one of those songwriters that dabbles in all constructs,” he says. “There are songs that are personally based. Then there are some that are based on something that I’ve witnessed or a story that has intrigued me, something that is outside myself and needed a voice. I like to be a storyteller.”
In the time Jones has been back in New Mexico, he’s noticed a tightknit local music scene.
He says it’s also a great opportunity to play at the many breweries in Albuquerque.
“The venues are different than bars,” he says. “They all have a different vibe and clientele. It’s great to be performing music at the breweries, because the audience is there to listen to music as well. Having these spaces has helped solidify the local music scene. There’s a great energy in it right now.”
Jones says 80 percent of the reason he decided to come back to New Mexico was to work with Rio Grande Studios.
“They are doing amazing things for music in general,” he says. “It’s been nice to come back and see familiar faces still holding down the New Mexico music scene.”