Paul E Jones Opens Up About The Bootleggers Music Group — Interview

The Bootleggers Music Group is made up of creative individuals with a higher purpose. Not to mention, their versatile style is so spiritual that it has the power to bring people together. Discover more details in this exclusive interview by the hand of his founder, Paul E Jones.

1 — First of all, when did this project start?

In 2019 When the pandemic hit my company, Campus Callers, which I started 18 years prior was deemed “Non-Essential” via our customer base and we lost about 97% of our client base within a few weeks of the shutdowns. After months of deep depression being, 56 and finding myself having to essentially start over in life, I pretty much determined I was going to leave Earth soon and asked GOD to allow me to write and record some music to leave my children.

I began writing and recording as well as playing occasionally out acoustically with a few friends, One of them being a fellow founding member, Wayne Maxwell. One particular night while sitting on my deck I asked GOD what he wanted of me. What was I supposed to do? The very next day Wayne stopped by my Office, Unannounced which had now been converted to a 1600 SFT Studio in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Wayne walked in and Said “Paul I think I am supposed to start playing music for the LORD” to which I replied simply, “OK” He then said, “but I also think I am supposed to write music for the LORD”. Again, my reply was simple, “OK”. He then said, “but I don’t know how to write, that is the gift GOD gave to you”. It was at that moment that I realized my prayer from the night before was answered and we began our task of writing, producing, and releasing music to help people come together and possibly have a relationship with GOD.

Understand this, please. We are not about religion, as a matter of fact, I personally believe “Organized Religion” is one of our world’s greatest problems. But GOD and the LOVE of GOD is what is important. It’s the private relationship that an individual has that is important. Do your best, be as kind as possible and everything else should take care of itself.

2 — Nowadays, how many musicians form part of The Bootleggers Music Group?

We have approximately 35 musicians, producers, writers, and artists involved from all over the globe. Most of them are currently listed on our webpage “Meet the Bootleggers.”

3 — Why did you go multi-genre instead of a specific category?

GOD was very clear to me in the message… Bring people together through music. MUSIC, all music that is kind in its base will bring people together. One night while sleeping I was awoken with a clear message, “GOD LIKES THE BLUES TOO”! Yes, that is exactly how it happened. It was then I realized we must attract people of all musical tastes. Thus far it has worked exactly as I was told, we have people from all genres coming and listening to the music.

They may have heard a Blues track, but then are listening to the others. We are very blessed to be able to do this. Indeed, we are actually producing our first Rap song… The writer, pastor Bob Neal from Cincinnati, an 84-year-old, White Baptist Minister 😊 We recently released his first track, “Words” and he then said he has written 20 Rap songs… So what the heck, let’s do it!

4 — What’s the message behind your latest single “It Is What It Is”?

This is highly funny to me… Again remember we are producing what we are directed to do. Hard to believe I know but “The BOSS” (GOD) sends all kinds of great music to us. “It Is What It Is” came to be because I started sending our music out to Music Critics prior to release in order to get feedback on my mixes.

I truly wanted to find out if I was getting them right, so who best to ask than the people who will decide if a song is played. I had just sent out a pre-release mix of “The Last Grain” as the song which poses the question of a father to his son “If the second to last grain had just fallen and you knew, what would you do”.

The song, to me and us, had a lot of meaning, depth, and feeling… However, while driving to Florida to do a private show I got an e-mail from one of the critics. He actually tore the song apart and said “It had no depth or meaning” HA! Now understand, I am a realist, not every song will be a winner and not everyone will like the music. I have been in the entertainment business since I was 5 so I get it, but his words really threw me off. So I turned on the Country radio station, as he was a Country music critic… I listened to about 8 songs and honestly, the lyrics to these so-called “HITS” and traditional radio tracks were 8 in a row simply dumbed down to “me” I decided that I was going to write a song that meant nothing.

After the first pass with fellow Bootlegger, Wayne Maxwell based on the concept of a song that every line would be a cliché’, we realized we may be on to a pretty fun song! On the drive back from Florida I began to paint the picture of a Middle-aged guy shelling out life advice… By the time I got back to Cincinnati, I had a storyline in mind and started making it all make sense “One Cliché’ at a time” and that is how that came about. Wish I had a better explanation, but that’s how it went!

5 — Would you describe it as a worship song?

Not at all, it is yet another one that honestly I believe was sent to us that will make people smile and ultimately end up getting them to come and listen to the others. GOD has a sense of humor as well, (side) note the whistler lives in Germany and came to be due to I am a huge Andy Griffith fan! You will notice two of my granddaughters, Colby, and Amelia are on the Spotify canvas!

6 — Which is your favorite line? Why?

My favorite line is “Everybody is a critic, it’s a sign of our times” which comes from the answer in #4 😊 Ironically I sent it to the Critic of Last Grain and have not heard back… I wonder if he picked it up. 😊

7 — What do you like the most about the arrangements or the style of “It Is What It Is”?

I think the best part of this song is it sticks in your head and simply makes me smile. The whistle makes the song to me!

8 — Have you ever done covers?

Yes, when playing out we mix many covers into the setlist, however, we try and stick with a 70/30 split when we are able to… 70’s originals and 30% covers.

9 — Will you be touring next year? Please let us more.

Our current plan is to start going out 1-4 times per month in mid-2023, however, we have made up our minds that we will only be playing venues we can fill and only do 1 ½ shows based on our own music.

10 — Musically speaking, what has been your biggest accomplishment?

Hard question, but I think to date it is that GOD provided me with some pretty crazy abilities. I am able to play any instrument I pick up. I do not know how to read music, I can only hear it in my head. This project has shown me how blessed I am and then the ability to match the best players and producers to the song.

Understand, this project is not Paul E Jones or any other single human. The Bootleggers Music Group has been designed to live on well after any of our current members including myself are gone. I have done all I can to make sure the person in the driver’s seat will not matter.

Everything from track management to the contacts, writers, players, and the cost of services is kept in a very tight database. Playlist curators, bloggers, and influencers are all known and rated by the genre they like to write about and promote. This way if I die tomorrow it will not matter… The Bootleggers Music Group will continue on!

CONNECT WITH THE BOOTLEGGERS MUSIC GROUP NOW!

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