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Jones and Hill attuned
By John Berger
to spectrum of sounds
Special to the Star-BulletinThey seem like unlikely partners. Fred Jones has been best known for almost 20 years as a local country music composer and recording artist. He lives in Nashville but returns here each winter to play tennis, write songs and play music.
Willie Hill was born in North Carolina but has called Hawaii home for more than 20 years. He has one of the deepest funk and R&B voices in local music and an unquenchable optimism that keeps him going through good times and bad.
Both have enjoyed individual success as songwriters. Now they have a joint project. "Shades of Blue," Hill's first CD, has been released by Jones' Royal Records label and contains three songs Jones wrote with Hill in mind.
"Fred told me a long time ago he was going to write me a good blues tune and I kept that in the back of my head.
On stage
Who: Fred and Donna Jones
"Then, a month or two ago I got a call from Pierre (Grill) telling me to come to the studio because Fred had a song for me. Next thing I knew, the song was finished. From that we decided to put a project together. Three of Fred's (songs) and seven of mine and we had a finished CD."
Hill adds that he has enough additional material of his own to fill three more albums. Jones is also a prolific writer. He and his wife, Donna, tour the mainland seven months a year; the couple has a cassette, "Who Cares," that they sell as a souvenir on tour.
Jones first made a name for himself as a local country artist writing songs for his peers. Moving to Nashville exposed him to a broader spectrum of music.
"It inspired me to explore other ideas. I like bluegrass and country (but) also jazz and rhythm & blues and rock. The more I traveled, the more it opened my mind. When country got into one groove I started writing more pop and this and that.
"A lot of times people will say things and it'll inspire me to write. I heard BB King say that his life was like shades of blue and that put a light bulb on in my head about three years ago. I kept working on it and working on it, but I didn't have it where I wanted it until this year. When I had it I knew it was a Willie Hill song."
Jones wrote a second blues-flavored song for Hill and contributed a third song to the project. He says Hill is an inspiration as a vocalist and self-starter.
"You can't sit around and wait for things to happen, and I love working with Willie because he hustles. He goes after it. There's always something going on in Willie's life and he believes in himself. It has nothing to do with age and there's no limit on how far you can go in this business."
Jones and his wife have made the Hungry Lion their local venue of choice for the past five years. They set up between two booths and play next to one of the big tree trunks. He says it's the best place in the world for a writer who loves people.
"I love to play places like the Hungry Lion where the ordinary people are. They will inspire you more than anything in this world to write."
"You can't get lazy," Hill adds. "You have to be ready for every opportunity."
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