The Sit Down with Arbor North
Whilst Nashville (by way of New York and Ohio) may be where Arbor North live, the husband-and-wife duo of AC Jones and Michael Boris have instantly found themselves at home here in the UK. Having recently released their third single and played shows at two of the UK’s most prestigious country music festivals, we get the feeling that their first trip over to the UK together definitely will not be their last.
We initially spoke with AC and Michael back at the start of the year over Zoom (Read HERE) as they were releasing their debut single “All the Right Mistakes” and then prior to their performance at Nashville Meets London we got to catch up in person and find out all about their first trip across the pond together.
It’s great to have you back here Michael and so nice to meet you AC IN PERSON for the first time. I remember you saying when we last spoke that you had been to Scotland before and now you have both been to Scotland together where playing up at Millport looked a lot of fun.
“It was beautiful. We started off in Birmingham to play Nashville Sounds in the Round which was a wonderful evening then we made our way up to Millport in Scotland to play this beautiful music festival. It was lovely with the artists, the attendees and the weather too!” (M)
We didn’t manage to get up to Millport ourselves but from what I saw on socials and all that I have heard about it, the festivals vibe is exactly how you described it. For AC especially to see for the first time what all these people mean when they talk about this UK country family that we have over here.
“It’s so true and family is a great way to describe it. The whole weekend felt like a great group of people to be in the same place with, to dwell with and eat our meals with. Michael has talked so much about it and everyone that I have spoken to talked so much about Millport, so it was great to finally experience it. Everything they say is true, it really was hard to leave, and we miss everyone already.” (AC)
You mentioned that you started off the trip playing Nashville Sounds in the Round, I know that Dan (Wharton) was doing a lot of things up at the festival too but what he puts on with Sally and Steven with that night in Birmingham is so cool with the whole acoustic vibe. For that as a first show, it must have been super cool to almost let you ease in to playing here in a more familiar songwriters style to back home.
“Yes, that was what we were saying too that it was cool to start off with a writers round and what is really interesting too is that a writers round is such a different approach as an artist when you go in there. We have so far been doing full band or semi acoustic shows where you are going from one thing to another and it’s just song, song, song to keep it quick so to do a writers round was kind of a mental shift and remind us that we actually can slow down to talk about these songs a little deeper and get more heartfelt in the nitty gritty of what the songs are about which was really great.” (AC)
We initially spoke with AC and Michael back at the start of the year over Zoom (Read HERE) as they were releasing their debut single “All the Right Mistakes” and then prior to their performance at Nashville Meets London we got to catch up in person and find out all about their first trip across the pond together.
It’s great to have you back here Michael and so nice to meet you AC IN PERSON for the first time. I remember you saying when we last spoke that you had been to Scotland before and now you have both been to Scotland together where playing up at Millport looked a lot of fun.
“It was beautiful. We started off in Birmingham to play Nashville Sounds in the Round which was a wonderful evening then we made our way up to Millport in Scotland to play this beautiful music festival. It was lovely with the artists, the attendees and the weather too!” (M)
We didn’t manage to get up to Millport ourselves but from what I saw on socials and all that I have heard about it, the festivals vibe is exactly how you described it. For AC especially to see for the first time what all these people mean when they talk about this UK country family that we have over here.
“It’s so true and family is a great way to describe it. The whole weekend felt like a great group of people to be in the same place with, to dwell with and eat our meals with. Michael has talked so much about it and everyone that I have spoken to talked so much about Millport, so it was great to finally experience it. Everything they say is true, it really was hard to leave, and we miss everyone already.” (AC)
You mentioned that you started off the trip playing Nashville Sounds in the Round, I know that Dan (Wharton) was doing a lot of things up at the festival too but what he puts on with Sally and Steven with that night in Birmingham is so cool with the whole acoustic vibe. For that as a first show, it must have been super cool to almost let you ease in to playing here in a more familiar songwriters style to back home.
“Yes, that was what we were saying too that it was cool to start off with a writers round and what is really interesting too is that a writers round is such a different approach as an artist when you go in there. We have so far been doing full band or semi acoustic shows where you are going from one thing to another and it’s just song, song, song to keep it quick so to do a writers round was kind of a mental shift and remind us that we actually can slow down to talk about these songs a little deeper and get more heartfelt in the nitty gritty of what the songs are about which was really great.” (AC)
Now, you are down in the promised land and I saw that yesterday you got to explore our fair city and working through the tourist bucket list. Are there any things that you haven’t checked off yet that you want to see?
“I mean there is so much to do in London. We just kind of did some of the super-duper high points with the Tower of London, walked past Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey.” (M)
“I would love to go inside the Abbey, it was too late by the time that we got over there though it was beautiful to see the outside and that’s something I would like to add to the to-do list, seeing the inside.” (AC)
How much longer are you guys staying over here for?
“Well, we play the show then tomorrow we head up to York which we’re very excited about. We were trying to get a show up there but unfortunately on this time around it just didn’t happen. We just kind of decided, do you know what? Let’s just go anyway! I have been there before, but AC hasn’t so I just thought it would be fun to have a couple of days at the end of our tour to just sightsee and have fun.” (M)
York is really nice and so pretty. There is so much culture there and history wise, especially all the Viking stuff. The architecture here generally is something that a lot of you guys pick up on because in America there is almost the mentality of a building being fifty years old so let’s knock it down and replace it whilst we have the attitude of not going near things that are like three hundred years old, but York especially is unspoilt.
“It’s so funny because we literally had that same conversation yesterday because we were walking around and as Americans, for example we see a building in Boston where there are some buildings from the sixteen hundreds but that’s like a very rare thing at home. Then over here, we toured the Tower of London yesterday and our brains just exploded, I don’t know how to even comprehend this and how old it is with all of the layers of history.” (M)
From this first trip over here together, do you definitely think there is plenty of inspiration for writing and ideas for new songs?
“Absolutely, everything in terms of coming over for live shows and in terms of writing, we’ve had a couple of titles pop in to our heads, so we’ve been taking out our notes in our phones to try and remember this and remember the story behind it. We definitely are going to be bringing a lot back and to bring to writing sessions which is great.” (AC)
“It’s definitely been very inspiring, meeting other artists and chatting with them, then the beautiful scenery and having beautiful conversations with people. Some people we met on the street and as songwriters there are just certain things that make you tick.” (M)
“I mean there is so much to do in London. We just kind of did some of the super-duper high points with the Tower of London, walked past Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey.” (M)
“I would love to go inside the Abbey, it was too late by the time that we got over there though it was beautiful to see the outside and that’s something I would like to add to the to-do list, seeing the inside.” (AC)
How much longer are you guys staying over here for?
“Well, we play the show then tomorrow we head up to York which we’re very excited about. We were trying to get a show up there but unfortunately on this time around it just didn’t happen. We just kind of decided, do you know what? Let’s just go anyway! I have been there before, but AC hasn’t so I just thought it would be fun to have a couple of days at the end of our tour to just sightsee and have fun.” (M)
York is really nice and so pretty. There is so much culture there and history wise, especially all the Viking stuff. The architecture here generally is something that a lot of you guys pick up on because in America there is almost the mentality of a building being fifty years old so let’s knock it down and replace it whilst we have the attitude of not going near things that are like three hundred years old, but York especially is unspoilt.
“It’s so funny because we literally had that same conversation yesterday because we were walking around and as Americans, for example we see a building in Boston where there are some buildings from the sixteen hundreds but that’s like a very rare thing at home. Then over here, we toured the Tower of London yesterday and our brains just exploded, I don’t know how to even comprehend this and how old it is with all of the layers of history.” (M)
From this first trip over here together, do you definitely think there is plenty of inspiration for writing and ideas for new songs?
“Absolutely, everything in terms of coming over for live shows and in terms of writing, we’ve had a couple of titles pop in to our heads, so we’ve been taking out our notes in our phones to try and remember this and remember the story behind it. We definitely are going to be bringing a lot back and to bring to writing sessions which is great.” (AC)
“It’s definitely been very inspiring, meeting other artists and chatting with them, then the beautiful scenery and having beautiful conversations with people. Some people we met on the street and as songwriters there are just certain things that make you tick.” (M)
Then lastly just rounding up, in terms of releasing music, we are on to single number three which came out last month and that’s kind of sticking to the plan of going down the singles route which we talked about when we last spoke over Zoom. From playing these shows here and at Millport along with the writers round in Birmingham is it good to be able to road test songs that could be the next single and gauging what people are digging in the environment over here?
“Absolutely, it’s always great as an artist to share some of the music that you haven’t released yet in live shows because you’re excited to share them, but you don’t really have an outlet to do that yet so it’s fun to share what else that we have coming.”
The third single “Would’ve Met You Anyway” from Arbor North is out now and available HERE.
You can find out more about Michael and AC on their WEBSITE and keep up to date with them socially on TWITTER FACEBOOK INSTAGRAM & TIKTOK.
“Absolutely, it’s always great as an artist to share some of the music that you haven’t released yet in live shows because you’re excited to share them, but you don’t really have an outlet to do that yet so it’s fun to share what else that we have coming.”
The third single “Would’ve Met You Anyway” from Arbor North is out now and available HERE.
You can find out more about Michael and AC on their WEBSITE and keep up to date with them socially on TWITTER FACEBOOK INSTAGRAM & TIKTOK.