10 years strong, Stacy Jones remains true to her bluesy roots

Stacy Jones, 36, from Edmonds, leads the Stacy Jones Band. Jones began performing as a teenager at Thrasher’s Corner and now leads a blues group that has toured nationally as well as in Europe. Their most recent album, “Love is Everywhere,” was released last year.

Her band won 10 Best of the Blues Awards this year by the Washington Blues Society, including Best Band, Best Female Vocalist, Best Northwest Recording, Best Blues Songwriter and Best Harmonica. Jones describes her sound as roots music — there’s a little bit of soul, Southern rock and blues.

The Stacy Jones Band will perform Oct. 6 at the Village Taphouse and Grill in Marysville. The band will open for The Fabulous Thunderbirds at the Historic Everett Theatre on Nov. 3 and is featured in Ladies First on Nov. 17 at Madison Pub in Everett.

What is your busiest time of year for performances?

The busiest in the summertime, due to the number of local festivals and outdoor events. In May, we were in Europe. In January, we were in New Orleans and Memphis. We try to get to the San Francisco Bay area once or twice a year, too, and usually go to Sacramento and Half Moon Bay. We’re overdue for getting back in that area.

If we can make it happen, I would like to make another trip to Europe and to California. We won a ton of awards this year from the Washington Blues Society. I would love to see us be on a lot of festival stages next year to have a chance to really shine.

Talk about this year’s European tour.

It’s the second time we’ve been. Both times Switzerland, the grounds where they do Paleo blues festival. Been down there on both trips. We’ve got a place when we head up to Belgium, a host there that loves to see us.

This time the highlight for Belgium was the Blues Garage near Hanover, Germany. The coolest venue, a large place with crazy memorabilia and all over the place.

What brought you to blues?

I started taking piano lessons when I was 12 or 13 from local Beth Wulff. She was teaching piano and kind of realized I could sing, too. She was the one who started me doing blues stuff and doing Aretha Franklin stuff. Me and her daughters would sing at this place at Thrasher’s Corner when I was 13 or 14.

Then I did choir and drama. I had a teacher when I was 17 who got me involved in group called Seattle Blues. He taught us how to be a 10-piece blues band. We got to open for the Tim Sherman Band, a blues guitarist, at the New Orleans in Pioneer Square.

How did your career develop from there?

I loved it, so I never stopped doing it. The idea of the blues jam really got me hooked. I could go any night of the week and play. Then there was the challenge of leading people, what kind of drum beat is it? What is the count? What’s the tempo? How do you end the song? And the idea of improvisation. I liked the challenges of doing it well.

How would you describe your sound?

You know, I don’t know if I have a way of describing it. I grew up with Southern rock being played in the house. And you know it was like Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd and a lot of Southern rock and rockabilly kind of stuff and blues.

Southern rock is so blues-based, but it’s not the same tradition. So I guess especially as I play more slide guitar now, and because we like to jam, it does end up having that kind of Southern rock feeling. But I play harmonica. I’ve also studied a lot of old Junior Wells and traditional blues stuff. I love soul artists. I started out doing Aretha Franklin, Etta James and Koko Taylor. There’s a little bit of soul there. So I don’t know. It’s roots music would be the best way to describe it.

You’ve had the same band members since 2008.

Yes, 10 years. I don’t think there are many others band in the area that have been together that long. I think we really just enjoy the music we play. There’s something about this group that there’s a lot of musical telepathy going on. When we jam we can go in these different directions, and it’s almost like we’re following each other and listening to what each other is doing. We’re all big fans of each other.

When one person learns some new tricks, it inspires the rest of us to do it. It’s amazing to see how we’ve grown as musicians for the past 10 years. Each of us has tried to hone our skills more and more. We’re a group a that wants to keep learning our art. We’re all very hungry to take on new challenges. That’s part of the fun, bringing something new to the table.

What are the band’s recording plans?

We’ve got a couple recording slots going on. We’ve started working on some of them, but we haven’t laid down dates. One of the things we’d like to do is go and record a bunch of classic tunes that we cover. We’ve got some new original tunes we’ve been working on. We’ve done a few sessions and few more scheduled. I would think we’ll probably have something in a year or so. We like playing live, but it’s fun in the studio, too.

How do the audiences and venues affect your music?

It’s easy when it’s a loud club and everybody’s dancing, but to have a quiet audience… We’ve gotten to a point where those kind of shows are really fun. You can change up what songs you’re doing, too. You’re trying to play really quality music.

Some clubs are just loud to play in. Then there’s ones where it’s quiet and fun. We’ve played shows where we’ve got a really captive audience in venues. Grinders in Shoreline, it’s very much a sit-down dinner kind of show.

You always want people to pay attention to the music. When they are it can be intimidating. They’re actually listening. Be careful what you wish for.

Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486 or salyer@heraldnet.com.

If you go

What: Stacy Jones Band

Where: Village Taphouse and Grill, 1204 Third St., Marysville

When: 9 p.m. Oct. 6

More: www.stacyjonesband.com