17th Oct, 2011
7up w/ Canton Jones
The Gospel Guru caught up with one of Gospel Music’s leading men, Canton Jones. Canton burst on the music scene back in ’02 wth his independent debut album “20 Years, 3 Months & 12 Days,” but made his major label debut in ’05 with “Love Jones.”
Canton is a singer, songwriter, producer, vocal arranger, and entrepreneur. Since his debut he’s received a Grammy nod, a Stellar Award nomination, and three Gospel Choice Awards. Last month Canton released “Dominionaire Remixed” if you haven’t done so, be sure to check it out! Now sit back, relax, and get a bit of 7up with Canton Jones.
- Describe Canton Jones in three words. Out the box.
- How do you remain relevant in the music industry? I believe that you have to study your craft, keep your ear open to what’s going on, but definitely stay true to what you do. Most of the time when you’re serving people you have to ask what they want. My job is to ask the people that I’m serving what they like, and they tell me. Just give them what they want.
- What was your inspiration for “Dominionaire?” I had several inspirations. My son’s name is Dominion, and when my wife was 5 months pregnant the doctor said there was no heart beat, and gave us a bad report of all the risks. So we named him Dominion and took authority over all the situations. Two years late there’s nothing wrong with him, he’s a healthy baby! So that’s why we call it “Dominionaire,” but the songs on the album are Dominion songs. Taking authority is pretty much the feel of the record.
- What was your most memorable experience in the making of “Dominionaire?” Wow. I think one of the most memorable experiences has to be one song in particular called “That Devil” which features Keith Wonderboy Johnson. I reached out to Keith to see if he’d be available to do the song, and he happened to be in Atlanta at the time. He told me he was staying a hotel near the airport and I was like man I’m on my way to the airport right now. I told him to meet me at the airport, and no lie we recorded his vocal in my truck…lol… I took all of my equipment and we got it done. So that has to a memorable experience.
- Who are some artists you would like to collaborate with in the future? I want to collaborate with some people that wouldn’t make sense. I would like to do something with a rock band like U2, but don’t get me wrong I’d love to work with my brothers and sisters in gospel. I’d love to work with Kirk Franklin and Fred Hammond , I was blessed to work with Deitrick Haddon on this project. I’m out the box I like to do weird stuff like a feature with Maya Angelou, or The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra just something that’s not expected.
- Who are some gospel artists that you look up to in the industry, and why? Man, I look up to everybody for different reasons. I look up to Shirley Caesar because she’s been in the game so long, anybody with that much longevity and consistency…I’m like wow, Lord give me that. I look up to Kirk Franklin on how big he’s made this genre and the doors he’s opened up with his music. I look up to Fred Hammond just because of his style of music. Deitrick Haddon has always been one I look up to because he’s always on the cutting edge and pushing the envelope. I can always fall in love with any aspect of a gospel artist as long as they’re true.
- As successful Gospel artist, how do you determine success? I determine success upon how successful you can make others. In what we do we need to set up platforms to make other women and men of God successful. So I measure true success on how successful you can make someone else.
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