“You only get one life, so make it right,” sings Laurence Jones on “One Life”, and it feels like this is his moment to reclaim it. A line in the sand. A deep breath. A reckoning.
It’s close to ten years now since MV first saw him, opening for Kenny Wayne Shepherd and being talked up as one of the brightest, biggest up-and-coming stars in British blues. And yet, for all the talent, things never quite seemed to sit as comfortably as they should have. Label changes, shifting expectations, the pull between blues, soul and pop — it’s felt at times like Jones was being shaped rather than allowed to simply be
“On My Own” feels like the correction.
Before this came “Bad Luck & the Blues”, his first almost-solo acoustic record. This goes even further. Mostly acoustic throughout, it’s raw, personal, and exposed in a way only this format allows. There’s nowhere to hide here — and Jones doesn’t try to.
Throughout the album there’s a sense of reclaiming control, even if he never quite says it outright. The title track lays it bare: a lifetime of being used, taken from, pushed around. He also confronts his chronic disease head-on, and if resilience is the overriding theme of this record then it’s never clearer than on “Get Back Up” and the defiant “Ain’t Coming Back No More” — the latter sounding very much like a raised middle finger to anyone who feels they deserve one.
What’s striking is that none of this bitterness dulls his gift as a player. Jones always was a gifted guitarist, and the spirit and energy remain intact, especially on “Change My Ways”. The fire hasn’t gone anywhere — it’s just been refocused.
“I Gave My Life To You” feels pivotal. You could assume he’s talking about the blues — and maybe he is — but it sounds deeper than that. This is a search for his truth, and it feels like he’s finally found it.
“I’m Giving Up” might sound like surrender on paper, but in reality it’s the opposite. It feels like the last thing he’ll ever do. That resilience bleeds through again, quietly but unmistakably.
Acoustic records live or die on texture, and ever since I first heard Bruce Springsteen’s “Nebraska” I’ve been surprised by just how much depth they can carry. “On My Own” is no exception. “Do You Feel The Same” moves into different emotional territory, while the songs remain short, sharp, and free of any excess — underlining the sense of a brave new world being entered.
“Middle Of The Night”, clocking in under three minutes, pulls you right into the darkness: the insomnia, the solitude, the strange hours of a touring musician’s life.
And then there’s “Beautiful”. If you follow Laurence Jones at all, you’ll know he’s found the love of his life — maybe that’s why the album ends looking for the sunlit uplands. Maybe we should say one of the loves of his life — because when he sings “I’ll be alright, I’ve still got my sweet guitar”, there’s a sense that it’s more than an instrument. Maybe it’s his oldest friend.
That feeling runs through the entire record. The blues, the guitar, the act of singing these songs — not as ambition, not as branding, but as a calling.
And with “On My Own”, Laurence Jones finally proves it.
RATING: 8.5/10
