David Jones:  Living Down the Legend by: Jeff Hightower

It’s a very hard thing in this world to try to succeed in the music world. But a much harder thing is to succeed while living in the shadow of a legend. To those who don’t know, Nashville band Geardriven is one of the hardest working bands around. But beyond the surface, they have a lot more to climb than most bands. You see, one of the biggest parts of their show is the guitar work of David Jones. You might say that there are thousands of guitarists in Nashville and each one is better than the next. But David has history. He is the nephew to legendary Johnny Cash. His grandmother Helen Carter and her family practically made country music. David’s dad played for John during the early nineties, shortly after we graduated high school. He played with him for 5 years until John was growing to old for life on the road Everyone’s first thought is that with his bloodline, he should have an automatic career in the music world, but this is not the case. It is often harder to break out of the shadow of an established musician than it is to start from scratch. Dave won’t deny who he is or where he came from, but he doesn’t want to live off of his name either. To everyone who knows him, he is a blistering guitarist with unlimited potential. But to those of us at Ambient Level Music and the GearDriven crew, he is the same guy we used to play football with. But one day the stigma of being a direct relative of country music royalty will catch up with him. Possible that’s the reason he plays hard rock music rather than country. How do you break out and make a name for yourself. When you’re grinding away in smoky clubs night after night for nickels, enjoy this time because it’s the reason you should play. David has started the long climb from the basement floor to the top of the mountain. When I hear him play, I don’t hear the Carter/Cash family anymore. I hear the flesh-ripping stone hardened guitarist who is determined to make his own way. Don’t ever bitch because it’s a hard road to travel, because there are those out there who have many more miles on their shoes than most will ever have. It’s your choice to be in the music industry, but it’s his life. Rock on Dave. From the nest… Jeff

Back to the nest...