Caroline Jones interview: Zac Brown Band member discusses touring as new mom, solo career and more ahead of Pittsburgh show

Balancing life as a new mother and a member of the Zac Brown Band is going surprisingly well for Caroline Jones.

Stadium shows on Kenny Chesney’s The Sun Goes Down tour, co-headlined with the Zac Brown Band, are usually scheduled over weekends. So that means Jones can bring her 6-month-old son along or leave him home with family on those quick absences.

“It’s made early motherhood touring infinitely easier,” Jones said in a phone call on Memorial Day, as she lamented “mom brain” and later avoided a wasp.

That tour hits Pittsburgh on Saturday with Chesney, the Zac Brown Band, Megan Moroney and Uncle Kracker playing Acrisure Stadium.

“It never gets old playing stadium shows. It’s the most surreal experience to look out in a crowd,” said Jones, who also opened for Chesney’s stadium tour in 2019. “Very rarely in life do you get to regularly experience a dream come true. And since I was a little girl, I would visualize audiences like that, crowds like that, and being on stage.

“And so the fact that that is a reality for me is, no, it never gets old. It’s a blessing and a privilege, and we all take it really, really seriously. The honor of standing up there and being able to pour out our heart and soul and inspire people in the audience — they spend their hard-earned money coming to these shows — and I know that both Zac and Kenny take that really seriously.”

Jones started as an opening act for the Zac Brown Band in 2017 — “I was supposed to open two shows on their tour, and then I ended up opening that (whole) summer.” After opening on and off over the next three years, she started playing with the band in 2021 and officially joining in 2022.

“Zac just called me out of the blue after the pandemic and said, ‘Would you mind, would you ever be interested in coming and playing utility?’ And I was totally shocked. I had been close to the band because I’ve been an opener, but they’re really welcoming to everyone. So I was not expecting that,” she said. “And they just kept inviting me back. And I feel so honored and so privileged to be up on stage with that caliber of musician.”

Jones plays a utility role in the band, adding autoharp, banjo, guitar, harmonica, mandolin, piano, steel guitar and vocals where needed. As the “new” member, she didn’t find it hard to fit in with the other band members, who have all been playing together since at least 2014.

“Honestly, somehow it felt natural to me because I was such a genuine fan and I had so much intrinsic respect for their musicianship and for their camaraderie and their tribe,” she said. “And so I feel like I walked in with a lot of reverence and I feel like that’s part of why I was able to assimilate because I think they’re a very close-knit family.

“Well, I know they’re a very close-knit family and I don’t think that any other approach would have been welcomed. I just hope to prove myself over time. Like I always say, hardwood grows slow. So I just hope to contribute and find a place and a role in the band over time. And I think that’s happening, and I just feel really, really blessed by the opportunity.”

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The band’s close-knit vibe and family-oriented crew makes for a comfortable fit whenever she brings her son along.

“They really operate like a community, like a tribe. And that’s something I’ve always admired about them,” she said. “And now that I have a family, I’m so excited for my son to grow up in that environment because it’s beautiful, you know?”

Jones toured last year until late in her pregnancy (celebrating not having a baby while on the road) and felt at ease when she got back on stage this year.

“It’s a little like riding a bike. It’s so much muscle memory, and I’ve been singing since I was really young since I was nine or 10, and I’ve been touring now for over a decade so it came back really quick,” she said. “I’m so proud to be able to stand on stage as a new mom. It means a lot to me for the other women out in the audience. It was wonderful. Honestly, parts of it are obviously really challenging just like anything else in life, but I’m proud to stand up there and I’m proud for my son to see me doing something that I love, to grow up seeing that.”

Besides her role in the Zac Brown Band, Jones also has a solo career, which includes her most recent album, “Homesite,” released last year. She views that as a different side of her brain as her solo career is all-encompassing, from the music to marketing and fan engagement.

“It’s top to bottom and every single aspect has my fingerprint on it and so playing in a band is the complete opposite. You’re trying to fit into this puzzle or this picture that already exists, and you’re just trying to make it a tiny bit more beautiful in any way that you can to contribute,” she said. “I’m just constantly wracking my musical brain for how to do that. What part can I play or what can I do in the show?

“So you’re a cog in a wheel; you’re just a tiny piece of the puzzle, where as an artist you’re creating the entire puzzle, and both are very, very rewarding. I feel like both are very symbiotic, like I become a better artist every time I step on stage with the ZBB guys and hopefully my artistry adds something to their band. That’s the dream.”

In a full circle moment, Jones collaborated with the Zac Brown Band play on one of her songs, “Million Little Bandaids,” for her album.

“Zac heard the song and fell in love with it, which is a big compliment,” she said. “And he wanted to jump on the song, wanted the band to feature on it, and then we played it on the tour last year. So it’s really special. It’s a message that really resonates with him. He’s a very deep, kind of self-seeking person, and that’s what that song is about.”

Jones recently reimagined that song “Million Little Bandaids” as an acoustic version in the first time she’s been in a studio since having her baby.

“The question that I posed to myself is how would Kacey Musgraves produce this song?” she said. “So that’s what we came up with. It’s like a Kacey Musgraves version of ‘Million Little Bandaids.’”

With her solo career, Jones is looking to make an impact on her listeners’ lives.

”Inspiration is my main intent. I think great music really inspires people to see their own creative potential, to feel on a level that we don’t allow ourselves to feel in daily life,” she said. “And I think that both of those things, the hope that inspiration provides, and also just getting in touch with your authentic emotional life, both those things are much needed in our world, and music does that in a unique way. So I hope my music touches people in that way.”

In 2018 and 2019, Jones opened for Jimmy Buffett, with the beloved songwriter and his bandmate Mac McAnally writing the song “Gulf Coast Girl” for her. (The song also featured Chesney and Lukas Nelson on vocals.)

Jones helped honor Buffett, who died in September, alongside the Zac Brown Band and Alan Jackson at the CMA Awards in November and another tribute concert in April.

“That was nuts. I mean, Paul McCartney and the Eagles and Jackson Browne and Eric Church and Jon Bon Jovi and Sheryl Crow and Brandi Carlisle,” she said. “It was so many legends. I don’t even remember all of them, you know what I’m saying? It was definitely a pinch-me moment.”