Diana Jones

When Diana Jones flew on a plane from New York to Eastern Tennessee and took her grandfather’s hand for the first time, her life was changed. Growing up as an adopted child in New York, Jones had an affinity for songs by Patsy Cline, Johnny Cash, Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton, and other artists not as popular with her contemporaries. After searching out her birth family at 15, she connected with her Tennessee roots, discovering that her birth grandfather (Robert Lee Maranville) had been a professional picker touring with Chet Atkins. Jones’ journey took her to Austin, where she worked on the craft of songwriting, and back to the Northeast, where she locked herself away in a cabin to write after her grandfather’s death. Her music is in the best of folk/country/roots music traditions, focusing on the richness of story combined with strong melody. In 2006, she won the prestigious New Folk Contest at Kerrville.