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Laney Jones Crafts a Sound All Her Own

The musical life of Laney Jones has not been all that long in years, but in that short time she's packed in a lot of life experiences and a lot of songwriting. Her self-titled album came out a few months ago, and is actually her third release. 

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Laney Jones and the Spirits playing, "Endless Summer."

Jones only started performing six years ago, while she was in college. She started school as an international business major, but found it didn't offer her the kind of creative outlet she was looking for, so she turned to music. 

"The first moment I started writing, it just, I fell instantly in love. It was like, 'Oh holy wow. This is what I'm supposed to be doing or something,'" says Laney. "And it doesn't make sense that, you know, I would start this at this age... but I loved it so much it was just, ah, caution to the wind." 

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Laney Jones and the Spirits playing, "Beyond the Blue."

Her latest album, Laney Jones, represents a major step forward in establishing the bands' distinctive sound. Jones admits that sound is partly inspired by her unusual upbringing on an exotic animal farm in Florida. 

"Anybody's experiences really transform who they are, and I think that's just something that sort of made me a little quirky and realize... there are a lot of different paths to life, and you can have kangaroos if you want," she says.

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Laney Jones and the Spirits playing, "Who Could Love Next."

Laney Jones and the Spirits are Laney Jones on ukulele, Brian Dowd on drums, Tre Hester on bass and Shorewood-native Matt Tonner on guitar.

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Laney Jones and the Spirits playing, "Troubled Mind."