NORTH MANKATO, MN (September 19, 2018) — Musicians often experience some level of anxiety when they release new albums, but Jill Jones’s new record, “Perfectly Clear,” was uniquely born out of her struggles with post-partum anxiety. It’s also the result of her journey of healing.
“Perfectly Clear” is the first full release for Jones, who leads worship at Crossview Covenant Church. She previously released the EP “He Is Everything.”
As a three-year-old, Jones fell in love with music while lying in front of her family’s record player listening to Whitney Houston. As she got older she developed her singing by listening to Celine Dion, Sandi Patty, and Point of Grace. She went on to study music at Central College in Pella, Iowa.
She put aside music, however, when she started a family. After her second child was born, Jones suffered crippling anxiety. At times she was too afraid to leave the house.
In the months that followed, she decided she had to trust God and began to take “baby steps every day.” When she did venture outside, she imagined herself as Peter walking on the water to Jesus.
During this time she and her husband, Blake, began attending Crossview. She started playing with their worship team and eventually joined the staff as music team coordinator.
“Post-partum depression is what people generally talk about, but no one talks about post-partum anxiety,” Jones says. “Since I’ve been sharing my story, so many women have come up to me and said, ‘I went through something like that too.’”
The record doesn’t directly reference her experience but focuses on trusting God even in the midst of doubts. “I believe that music connects us to each other. Through it, we discover shared joys and struggles, and those common threads remind us that we are not alone.”
When she performs, Jones talks about her battles with anxiety. “I definitely have felt called to do say something,” she says. “It is certainly not in my nature. But when I was struggling with the anxiety and God was leading me through it, I knew I would have to share my gratitude for what he was doing in my life. I’m a pretty introverted, private person. I never dreamed I’d be baring my soul, but it’s so worth it when you start to see women talk about it.”
When she started writing the album, she wanted to share what she’d been learning. Then she discovered she still had a lot to learn. “I have found myself at times listening to a song that I thought I had written out of a place of knowledge and it was kind of wrecking me because I needed to hear it just months later,” Jones says. “It was really humbling. It was a reminder that I don’t have it all figured out even though my writing is the best way for me to process.”
Jones performed a concert at Crossview last Friday to coincide with the album’s release. She was joined onstage by a full band that included many of the musicians who performed on the record.
The songs and album are available for download at Jones’s website.
