Behind The Song: Willie Jones’ New Feel-Good Anthem, “Get Low, Get High”

“You gotta get low so you can get high”

Videos by American Songwriter

That’s the opening line of “Get Low, Get High,” the latest single from rising genre-bending artist, Willie Jones. Kicking off with that catchy hook and then blossoming into a full-blown anthem—complete with acoustic guitars, drum machines, and glistening, sunshine-y horns inspired by Jones’ home state, Louisiana—the single serves as a brilliant little light in the midst of difficult times.

“This was actually the first song I wrote during quarantine,” Jones tells American Songwriter. “This was right when Zoom was still pretty new and fresh, so a lot of people were figuring out how to write in that context, but we hit the ground running. On that day, I was in my backyard in Louisiana on a call with Cary Barlowe and Brandon Day. The day before, it had been raining, like, really, really crazy… but the next day, the sun was out and it was just freaking beautiful. So, I brought all my speakers, mics, and computer outside to my childhood backyard, thinking ‘Damn, this is so great, I feel so good.’”

Inspired by the beauty of the world around him—both in nature and in the simple pleasure of returning to his childhood home—Jones started to put together the pieces for a new tune. “We got into this zone,” he said. “I was telling the guys about the night before and how crazy the rain had gotten… we started talking about the duality between rain and sun, between darkness and light… but rain is good for the Earth too, so we were comparing that to life.” 

At this point, “Get Low, Get High” and all of its inspiring good-ness began to take shape… and with a few ideas from Jones’ collaborators, that shape kept getting bigger and brighter. “We had that chorus lyric ‘la di da da you need the rain before the sunshine’ and Brandon was like, ‘We should put some horns on there!’” Jones explains. “At first, we just had programmed horns… but we actually ended up getting real trumpets and trombones and all of that. It’s amazing—I mean, you can’t hear a group of horns blaring and not be in a better mood. So, we added stuff like that to raise the operation. We added choir voices too. We just tried to get it so it felt really good so that it could put you in a better mood.” 

Looking back, Jones feels like he and his co-writers did a pretty good job at injecting some unabashed positivity into their work… which makes it extra special to be sharing now.

“It’s a great time for this song to come out—the pandemic showed us that life has its ups and downs,” Jones said. “Music can put you into all sorts of moods—it can make you happy, it can make you somber. With this song, we just wanted to make people feel better… and you have to acknowledge the lows to really enjoy the highs. That’s what the song is about, and I think we executed it well.”


Willie Jones’ new single “Get Low, Get High” is out now—listen to it below:

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