Holly Jones
Edmond, USA
Mother Ship
Behind the Music
Holly JonesWhen one listens to this music, my hope is to evoke in them the feelings that stirred within me when I read The Outlaw Ocean. Heartbreaking stories are exposed in this riveting bestseller: the reality of what happens in international waters, every day, a place where there is no governor and madmen control all.
The themes that spoke to me and touched me the deepest were those of human trafficking and sea slavery in the fishing industry. These young men and boys from Cambodia, the Philippines, Thailand, and surrounding countries are all innocent, all unknowingly pursued because they are considered “more compliant” and better able to be manipulated and silenced. They are just looking for a job on a boat where they can work hard, earn a decent wage to create a better life for themselves and their families. Then they are forced to work 20 hour days, held captive when a boat docks, tortured and starved for sport by fishing captains who are madmen.
A fun challenge in creating this EP was utilizing some of the ambient sound archives provided. I was especially drawn to one with the cries of the seagulls and whales’ calls. Listening to them, and their natural rhythm in nature, the challenge was to find a way in with the music to complement them…so I played “to them,” accompanying them, so to speak.
About Holly Jones
Her music described by friends and fellow music lovers as reverent, reassuring and transcendent, award-winning American pianist and composer Holly Jones enjoys communicating peace and calm through her compositions. Growing up with classical music all around her, Holly began the violin at three (she laughs, “that didn’t stick!”), piano at eight and enjoying the thrill of composing by nine. She has completed many years of private study, including piano and composition at Indiana University. She finds great therapy in each composition, sharing with the world the elemental truth that our essence is peace. Her most recent album, “The Christmas Piano,” won SoloPiano.com’s “2020 Best Holiday Piano” category award. “Art on the Piano” won awards – Enlightened Piano Radio 2020 “Best New Artist,” One World Music Radio’s 2019 “Best Solo Piano Album” and was nominated for Whisperings Solo Piano Radio 2019 “Album of the Year.” Holly’s solo piano singles “Agape” and “And Then It Rained” have found favor with Apple Music, being added to editorials, “Piano Chill,” “Melancholy Piano” and “Pure Calm.” Several of her singles have been added to Pandora Editorial Stations, “New Age Solo Piano,” “Relaxation” and “Solo Piano.”
Holly lives with her husband and their beauty queen dog, “Darbie,” in Edmond, Oklahoma.