Uncooked, reflective, and achingly human, The Bones of J.R. Jones’ intimate sixth album ‘Radio Waves’ glows with the sparkle of dim summer season avenue lights and the hum of reminiscence in movement. In dialog with Atwood Journal, Jonathon Linaberry displays on nostalgia, impermanence, and the quiet act of tuning again into your self.
‘Radio Waves’ – The Bones of J.R. Jones
These songs dwell within the evening – the countless variety, the place you get in your automobile simply to drive and take heed to music.
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A haunting glow runs via Radio Waves – one which glints between nostalgia and now; between headlights mirrored in moist pavement and the fading pulse of dim summer season avenue lights.
For Jonathon Linaberry, the inventive pressure behind The Bones of J.R. Jones, that glow grew to become a compass. His sixth studio album is steeped in reminiscence, movement, and a longing to rediscover the joys of connection – the type he as soon as felt as a child with a cassette deck, ready for his favourite music to hit the radio. There’s nothing polished or nostalgic about this sort of trying again; it’s messy, magnetic, and achingly human. As Linaberry himself reminds us, “All you need to do is tune in.”
I’m simply feelin shameless
Strung out on a wire
Its been neon indicators and cigarettes
Haven’t seen the day in awhile
TV is shouting holy males
Telling me I’m damned
I don’t concentrate
They don’t know
The heaven I had
– “Shameless,” The Bones of J.R. Jones
Launched June 20th through Tone Tree Music, Radio Waves marks a daring evolution for The Bones of J.R. Jones – each sonically and spiritually. Produced by GRAMMY-winner Robbie Lackritz (Feist, Bahamas) and recorded in Toronto, the album finds Linaberry working with an out of doors producer for the primary time, surrendering among the isolation that after outlined his inventive course of in alternate for a newfound sense of readability and depth. “I felt like I used to be essentially the most complete I’ve been whereas writing these songs,” he tells Atwood Journal. “Most occasions I really feel like I’m stumbling round at nighttime, however this time I knew what I needed to create.”
The result’s a report that feels timeless but alive – lo-fi and luminous, uncooked and refined in equal measure. Its soundscape lives someplace between the analog heat of an outdated AM dial and the introspection of late-night confession; for Linaberry, these are the sounds and tales of his personal coming of age. On “Automobile Crash,” the album’s aching opener, Linaberry presents what appears like a thesis assertion for the human situation: “I need your complete coronary heart, even the damaged elements.” The music swells and breathes like a cinematic exhale, an intimate internal reckoning that finds consolation in imperfection. It’s adopted by the dreamy “Savages,” a sweaty, sentimental portrait of youth and abandon (“We had been savages, summer season steamed off our pores and skin”) that burns with the warmth of reminiscence.
I acknowledge it’s simple to wax poetic about childhood or days passed by, however with all of the upheaval on the earth right this moment I discovered exploring the loves of my youth reassuring and comforting.
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Rigidity and tenderness move in equal measure throughout these eleven songs. The haunting “Shameless” stands out as one among Linaberry’s private favorites – “One thing about that music hits all of the notes for me on how I envisioned the album sounding,” he says – its verses echoing via empty streets and half-lit bars like ghosts of a love as soon as alive. The folksy, acoustic guitar-led “Coronary heart Assault” wrestles with the load of expectation and religion (“God ain’t ready on me anyway”), whereas “Waste Some Time,” that includes The Climate Station’s Tamara Lindeman, slows the heart beat to one thing comfortable and lived-in. “You stated a frightened coronary heart at all times retains their ghosts, so it by no means sleeps alone,” Linaberry sings, his voice fraying on the edges. It’s a second of quiet revelation – one which captures each the fragility and the resilience on the core of Radio Waves.
That duality – the ache and the acceptance – culminates in “Begin Once more,” the album’s tender, piano-led finale. Stripped to its essence, the music appears like a prayer whispered to oneself: “Fold us down into this land, shut our eyes, begin once more.” It’s a closing that doesn’t promise decision, however chance – a reminder that therapeutic isn’t about erasing what was, however studying to carry it gently. “I suppose I ended the report with it as a result of it felt like a powerful method to exit,” Linaberry says. “It has a distinct taste than the remainder of the report… one among my favourite sleeper hits.”
For all its reflection, Radio Waves isn’t a retreat into the previous a lot as a dialog with it – a transmission from the identical stressed coronary heart that has guided The Bones of J.R. Jones for over a decade. Linaberry revisits his earliest fascinations – these late nights by the radio, these countless drives via the Catskills – to not relive them, however to grasp how they formed the person and the musician he’s turn into. It’s the sound of somebody tuning again into themselves.
All you need to do is tune in.
Within the months since Radio Waves first landed, Linaberry hasn’t slowed down. Contemporary off his community tv debut on CBS Saturday Morning, he’s revisited the album via a brand new lens with Radio Waves (Deluxe) – a re-imagined assortment that provides demos, alternate takes, B-sides, and 4 dwell recordings captured at New York’s Le Poisson Rouge. It’s an intimate companion piece, filled with tough edges and radiant moments that reveal the internal sanctum of a songwriter nonetheless in the hunt for what else may be hiding inside his personal songs.
“Radio Waves Deluxe is a compilation of demos, totally different takes, dwell variations, and B-sides,” Linaberry shares. “As a listener I at all times take pleasure in seeing the ‘might have beens’ in terms of a report. It’s like sneaking a peek at somebody’s inventive course of, which might be embarrassing or yield some inspiring perception into creation. Both method it’s one thing enjoyable.”
That curiosity extends to the reworked “Drive (Deluxe 1982),” a shimmering experiment that pushes his sound deeper into analog dreamland. “It performs heavy on the CS-80 synth and programmed Linn drum,” he says. “To not be taken too critically, however extra of an exploration for myself to see the place this music might have ended up. I can’t stand to consider music as a static factor. It’s in itself kinetic, and I’m at all times baffled when individuals adhere to at least one singular thought in terms of a music. It needs to be ever altering.”
Radio waves carry me
Feeling burnt, I can’t sleep
And I received a gap in my head
Ratting me out
I’m so bored with singing alone
No person’s there on my phone
It’s simply the beat, beat
Beat in my head
Am I shedding
Shedding my –
Shedding my thoughts?
– “Drive,” The Bones of J.R. Jones
That sense of evolution feels true to Radio Waves itself – an album constructed on movement, reminiscence, and the refusal to face nonetheless.
Jonathon Linaberry stays drawn to the sparkle and hum of impermanence: Songs that transfer, shift, and reveal new shades every time you come to them.
In dialog, he displays on that very same spirit of motion – nonetheless on identification, reinvention, and what it means to maintain discovering mild within the static. We additionally talk about the making of Radio Waves, his collaboration with producer Robbie Lackritz, the tales behind songs like “Automobile Crash,” “Shameless,” and “Begin Once more,” and the way trying backward helped him transfer ahead.
It’s a dialogue about creation and connection, about chasing the sign that by no means fades – and about studying, many times, to easily tune in.
Dive into our dialog under, and take heed to Radio Waves wherever you stream music!
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‘Radio Waves’ – The Bones of J.R. Jones
A CONVERSATION WITH THE BONES OF J.R. JONES
Atwood Journal: Jonathon, we’re so a few years into you making music below this poetic moniker. What is the state of play for The Bones of J.R. Jones right this moment, and the way does the identify characterize you now, six albums into your profession?
The Bones of J.R. Jones: To be sincere, I continually battle whether or not to alter the identify or not. I hear rather a lot from different musicians with monikers and the way all of us share this sense of purchaser’s regret. Haha. I believe in actuality that ship has sailed, however each report cycle I ask myself what would it not appear like if I modified the identify of this mission.
I do not assume I ever requested you – and I’ve struggled to seek out this data on-line – what impressed the identify within the first place?
The Bones of J.R. Jones: I performed my first present with out pondering of what to name myself. It was the kind of bar gig that you’re simply that to make noise. Nobody is there to hear. Nobody cared. I received paid for my set in two pints, I believe. After my set somebody requested my identify. The Bones of J.R. Jones is the very first thing to give you. I had no intention on it sticking round for 13 years on.
Radio Waves arrived this June as your sixth full-length report. Are you able to share somewhat in regards to the story behind this album?
The Bones of J.R. Jones: Radio Waves is a little bit of an ode to the music and recollections of my childhood. The primary cassette tapes I had. Those I performed out to the purpose the tape itself would warble and turn into drained. I acknowledge it’s simple to wax poetic about childhood or days passed by, however with all of the upheaval on the earth right this moment I discovered exploring the loves of my youth reassuring and comforting.
This album arrives two years after 2023’s Sluggish Lightning – what was your imaginative and prescient going into this new batch of songs? Did that change over the course of recording this?
I had a reasonably clear path once I first began penning this album. I wrote a complete manifesto for it and created a deck filled with pictures and inspiration factors to behave as my north retailer when writing these songs. It helped tremendously. Any time I felt misplaced or uncertain on a call, I might reference it and most occasions it helped set me down the appropriate path.
Why the title “Radio Waves”?
The Bones of J.R. Jones: I really feel prefer it holds a number of meanings for me. One is the very tongue and cheek reference of being an impartial musician and attempting to get your music performed on the radio, which I’ve at all times struggled to do. So the title in that sense is considerably self-deprecating. One other one could be extra romantic and doubtless extra true, nevertheless it’s a little bit of a narrative. I bear in mind driving the Catskills one very chilly and really clear October evening over a decade in the past.
There’s little to no radio service for a lot of the drive up Rt. 28 to the place I dwell. I bear in mind reaching the crest of a mountain and for the time being the radio that was set to scan on AM picked up a sports activities station from Chicago. The Cubs had simply received a recreation and there was a lot pleasure within the announcer’s voice. I pulled over and listened for a couple of minutes. It was such a particular and surprising second to expertise. I felt like I used to be eavesdropping on one thing that was taking place throughout the nation. It was from one other life, one other time. I suppose the title comes from a little bit of that evening.
How do you are feeling Radio Waves reintroduces you and captures your artistry as it’s right this moment in 2025?
The Bones of J.R. Jones: Unsure on the reintroduction facet, however I can say that I felt like I used to be essentially the most complete I’ve been whereas writing these songs. And what I imply by that’s I had path. Most occasions I really feel like I’m stumbling round at nighttime… which offers its personal little bit of inspiration, haha. However this time I felt like I knew what I needed to create, which felt nice. It’s been a very long time since I felt that method.
You have beforehand shared how this album explores your personal coming-of-age story over an ‘80s and ‘90s-inspired soundscape. Are you able to share a bit about your influences going into these songs, and the way you sought to provide this album a sound of its personal?
The Bones of J.R. Jones: Influences are humorous, slippery issues. I really feel like they’ll change on you over time. That being stated, I attempted to not pull straight from any specific songs. I used to be simply after a sense, so if a music impressed me… I attempted to determine why. What was it? The theme? The manufacturing? The phrases? The atmosphere I used to be in once I heard it? And if I might determine that out… that’s what I wrote my music from. Unsure if that is sensible, however that’s one of the simplest ways I describe it.
What was your expertise like collaborating with Robbie Lackritz as producer – The Bones of J.R. Jones’ first exterior producer?
The Bones of J.R. Jones: Working with Robbie was nice! Such a strong human with an unbelievable ear. We recorded in two separate periods over the summer season of 2024, however I began sending him demos earlier that spring. We had been restricted on time and price range, so there was rather a lot pre-production work to get carried out within the hopes of streamlining the report periods. Lengthy story brief, it was fast however a fantastic expertise.
You open the report with the aching and churn of “Automobile Crash,” an emotionally uncooked and revealing introduction. Why begin the album with this music, and the way do you are feeling it units the scene?
The Bones of J.R. Jones: I believe each Robbie and I knew after we recorded that observe that it needed to open the report. It simply felt proper. That’s all I can actually say about it. Nothing else made sense to us and we sort of constructed the sequence of the report off of “Automobile Crash.”
Do you have got any definitive favorites or private highlights off this report?
The Bones of J.R. Jones: I might say my private favourite might be “Shameless.” One thing about that music hits all of the notes for me on how I envisioned the album sounding.
I had the distinct pleasure of premiering “Begin Once more” earlier this yr, calling it a “comfortable and soul-stirring reckoning” on the time. Why finish the album with that music?
The Bones of J.R. Jones: And THANK YOU for that! I like that observe. Considered one of my favourite sleeper hits. I suppose I ended the report with it, as a result of I felt prefer it was a powerful method to exit. It has a little bit of a distinct taste than the remainder of the report and can also be in my very own modest opinion one of many higher songs on the report. I like the concept of ending with a little bit of a buried gem.
As a lyrically ahead artist, do you have got any favourite lyrics in these songs?
The Bones of J.R. Jones: “Waste Some Time”:
You stated a frightened coronary heart,
At all times retains their ghosts,
So it by no means sleeps alone.
It’s those that damage essentially the most,
You retain closest to the glow.
Are you able to describe this report in three phrases?
The Bones of J.R. Jones: Dim Summer time Road Lights. I’m conscious that’s 4, haha.
What do you hope listeners take away from Radio Waves? What have you ever taken away from creating it and now placing it out?
The Bones of J.R. Jones: I attempt to not mission my hopes onto listeners. I believe that solely brings disappointment. Haha. I view music as a dwelling kinetic factor and folks will eat it, relate to it (or not) in their very own method. After I launch a report I’m attempting to be higher about recognizing it’s not mine. Folks will mission their very own tales onto these songs and I like thought.
Every report is its personal beast, however I believe this one has left me feeling extra impressed than ever. I often hit a wall after a launch and anticipate that it’ll occur once more on this report, however at the moment I’m feeling fairly good and already writing for the following one.
Within the spirit of paying it ahead, who’re you listening to lately that you’d advocate to our readers?
The Bones of J.R. Jones: Reverend Baron, Ted Hawkins, and Lonesome Shack.
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