Keeping Music Alive with MusicFirst at The Jones Assembly

The Jones Assembly is bringing back live shows with its MusicFirst event, sponsored by First National Bank of Oklahoma.

Remember the sweet sound of a live audience cheering to a thick guitar riff or a solo drum session? That feeling of singing to the melody of a favorite song alongside another person who appreciates music just as much as you do. Yeah, the memory is faint for us too. But after a full year of essentially no live music, The Jones Assembly, sponsored by First National Bank of Oklahoma, is bringing back live shows with its MusicFirst event. 

MusicFirst is the brainchild of Social Order Dining Collective partner and co-owner of The Jones Assembly, Brian Bogert, and Graham Colton, also co-owner of The Jones Assembly. MusicFirst is keeping music alive, hosting live shows from genres all over the board Monday through Friday each week. From singer songwriter to rock and pop, The Jones Assembly is bringing back live music for listeners and musicians one show at a time.

To learn more about MusicFirst, we chat with Bogert about the story behind creating the event, Oklahoma City’s growth into a music city, and concerts and shows to come. 

Tell me about MusicFirst at The Jones Assembly.

After we safely re-opened in June due to the pandemic, we knew that it would be a while before we were able to host full-scale concerts again. Food, spirits, and music are the three pillars of our business model, and we wanted to make sure we could still deliver on all three. With that in mind, we began music on the patio the first full week we opened back up. We are fortunate to have a large spacious patio. We knew patio dining would be premium for our guests, and therefore we would have a built-in audience for our performers. 

What was the inspiration behind hosting shows every night?

How did that come about and what sparked the idea? The pandemic hit local musicians and gig workers just as hard as it did restaurants. Suddenly, there was nowhere for live performers to play. We always knew we wanted to have nightly live music eventually, but it became clear that we needed to have this staple of The Jones Assembly reimagined. 

We decided we needed to help keep music alive in Oklahoma City. So much momentum was happening in the music scene in OKC prior to the pandemic, and we didn’t want that to stop. We made the decision while we were closed that we needed to do whatever we could to support our local performers. I pitched the idea to Mel Martin at First National Bank of Oklahoma, and without hesitation he saw the value in this endeavor for the community. First National Bank of Oklahoma has graciously helped fund the series through the rest of the year. 

What genres/artists is The Jones bringing in for this? From bluegrass to singer songwriter to country and rock, the genres are all over the board. The one common thread is that all of the artists are from Oklahoma.

How do you decide which artists will be playing at The Jones?

It started with artists we knew, had worked with, or friends. My business partner, Graham Colton, is an influential figure in the Oklahoma music scene, so he has been instrumental in booking a diverse group of local artists. At first, it started with 7-8 artists and then they in turn started spreading the word to their friends. From there, we started fielding inquiries and demos. So far, we have had over 150 weeknight performances on the patio since we started this series last June, and have featured over 50 local artists. 

What excites you all the most about hosting a show every night?

In my opinion, nothing beats the energy that a live performer provides. Seeing our guests dining and enjoying live music in a safe outdoor space during the difficult year and forgetting about the outside world for a while is priceless. The consistency of nightly live music is really resonating with OKC residents, and just knowing that our local artists have a platform to play every weeknight is pretty special.   

How would you describe the current Oklahoma music scene?

How has it changed over the years? I think over the last four or five years the live music scene has put OKC on the map. In the past, we were often a drive-through city for touring national acts. When Graham and I moved back from Dallas in 2003, having nightly access to live music and concerts was the biggest void we found in the city. I never would have imagined in the same night that The Killers would be playing at The Zoo Amphitheatre, MGMT would be performing at The Criterion and St. Paul & The Broken Bones would be playing The Jones Assembly in the summer of 2019—and they were all sold out shows. I think that’s a testament to how OKC has become a top tier music destination. When Graham, Scott Marsh and our group produced the Kings of Leon concert at the Scissortail Park Grand Opening and over 25,000 people attended, it really felt like OKC had arrived as a music town. 

What do you hope to bring to the Oklahoma music/creative scene through weekday shows?

I just think we have a great opportunity for our community to support local artists and hopefully we’ll encourage continued support for shows at all of our local music venues when it’s safe to do so. We are so fortunate to have multiple venues in this city now. When concerts start back up again at all of these venues, I really hope our city does all they can to buy tickets, attend shows, and support live music. The music scene wasn’t always flourishing like it was pre-pandemic and I just hope guests will continue to patronize restaurants, bars, and concert venues across the city that showcase live music. 

Hopes for the future/future plans?

We hope to continue MusicFirst for years to come so that our local performers always have a stage to play on. 

Any up-and-coming artists coming to The Jones that we should be on the lookout for?

Outside of the talented lineup of local artists we showcase nightly, our first full venue concert will be Friday, June 25th as Americana Country & Blues artist Charley Crockett hits the stage. He will be bringing his full band to the The Jones and I’m very excited about this one. 

We hope to really start ramping up again with large-scale concerts in late summer and fall, and our 2022 calendar is already filling up with some exciting returning and first time to OKC acts. Stay tuned!