Paris Jones worked with K’Saan Preston for the track “Willow,” a meditation on depression as a stage of grief. It’s a song from the album Zephaniah’s Book of Trees about those stages and Zephaniah being the name of Jones’ son who passed away in 2015 from complications of birth. That’s a heavy thing for anyone to have to deal with much less find any motivation or strength to work on music. And “Willow” uses a very simple piano melody and spacious production to allow the vocals to sketch a string of thoughts contemplating the meaning of all the identities, values and aspirations we question in the wake of tragedy when it doesn’t seem to mean nearly as much as the pain we feel that is difficult and sometimes impossible to take on all at once especially when we don’t know if it will ever really fade into something that crushes us when we least expect it. Interpolating Frank Ocean’s “Songs For Women” for the chorus, Paris fills this vulnerable track with the light of his faith that he holds on to to get through this wave of grief by spelling out the little things that connect us to our everyday life in a way that we take for granted when life is in normal mode. Listen to “Willow” on Soundcloud and connect with Paris Jones and K’Saan Preston at the links below.
Queen City Sounds and Art 
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