Eli Young Band set to perform at Sunshine Theater

Jon Jones is ready for a vacation.

After spending the majority of spring on tour with the Eli Young Band, the musician is ready for some family time.

“We’re off the road and moving from one type of humidity to another,” he says with a laugh. “My kids are 10 and six and we’re right in the middle of summer break for them. It’s the only chance I’ll get to relax with the whole family.”

The members of Eli Young Band met while they were students at the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas, in the late-1990s and early 2000’s. The band consists of Jones, Mike Eli, James Young and Chris Thompson.

The band’s latest release is the EP, “Love Talking” and will take the stage at Sunshine Theater on Friday, July 7.

Jones says all but one of the songs is written by a member of the band.

“Mike was a part of the writing and we split our publishing among the four of us,” Jones says. “Mike has bigger aspirations and he got his own publishing deal. We wrote with songwriters in Nashville, New York and Los Angeles over Zoom. For this album, Mike wanted to take the lead on writing for the project.”

Jones says Eli was able to treat the writing process as his job.

“When it was time to record an album, he had 100 songs to pick from,” he says. “We had to hone in on what makes sense and try and fit the mood. We didn’t want something about the pandemic. We wanted to have hopeful messages.”

Jones says part of the fun of the album process is getting to be on all the decisions from beginning to end.

This means the band is heavily involved in the album art work, as well as how the liner notes are put together.

“A lot of people don’t care about this aspect, but we still love it,” he says. “We want listeners to listen to our music. It’s understood that we curate the songs to create an arc. It’s a really big deal to us.”

More than 20 years in the music industry has passed since Eli Young Band began.

Jones says his “mind is blown” when he thinks that more than half of his life has been dedicated to the band and music.

“When we started, it was just a hobby,” he says. “The band has become part of who we all are. It’s important to keep making music and even better when it connects to people. Holding a band together for as long as we have takes a lot of work and we’re not afraid of putting it in.”

With a handful of hits made along the way, Jones says putting a set list can be challenging, but the band has found a routine.

“We play the hits and the almost hits,” he says. “There are a handful of songs that never made it to the radio as big. We feel like we just can’t not play them. There are always going to be the songs that are going to be on the fringes and we definitely play them. We do less and less covers as our catalog grows. We revamped our set earlier this year and have found a good spot with it. Whenever you come to one of our shows, you’re getting something different.”

As Jones has grown as a musician, he says the confidence is there now for the band.

At the beginning of the career, the nerves surrounding shows was due to them not being sure about themselves.

“What makes it exciting is those nerves fade away and we get up there and perform,” he says. “The four of us are doing it more for us these days. We plan our shows for us to have enough time to take a 5 a.m. flight back home to be with our families. That’s the pay off of touring so much during the beginning of our careers. Now, we make time for us and our families.”