Meet JP. John Paul Soars

Today we’d like to introduce you to JP. John Paul Soars.

Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
My Name is JP Soars. Short for John Paul. I was born in Anaheim California in 1969. In 1973 my parents moved us to Cedarville Arkansas. A tiny town nestled deep in the Ozark mountains of northwest Arkansas. This is where I grew up. I’m the oldest of 7 kids. There are 4 boys and three girls. My parents had me when they were both very young. My mom was 17 and my dad was 20. We didn’t have much growing up in the way of $$$ and material things but we had a lot of love in our family. My dad played guitar around the house a lot. He had friends that played. They would have these get-togethers where they would play music, tell stories and jam all night. I always really enjoyed these times and associated them with peaceful, happy times in the household. I was always draw to music. I played trumpet in the school band from 6th grade until I graduated.

When I was 11, my dad started showing me some chords on the guitar. I picked it up very quickly and naturally. I fell in love with it. I would play as much as a could. I knew from a very early age that I wanted to be a musician and to bring joy and happiness to people through music. When I was 13, I finally got myself an electric guitar. We bought it for $30 at a pawn shop. I felt like I had died and gone to heaven!

Soon after that, a couple of my friends got instruments as well and we started a little band in middle school. We would play at talent shows and variety shows at school. All the sudden I was a little cooler in school and wasn’t getting picked on as much.

In 1985, my parents declared bankruptcy, packed up our family and loaded everything we had into a Uhaul rental truck and relocated to West Palm Beach FL. This was quite the culture shock. I had grown up in tiny town USA where I knew most all my friends and classmates since kindergarten. There we about 30 kids in our entire class. When I graduated from West Palm Beach FL, the class was well over 500 kids! Moving to Florida was great for us, for my parents and our whole family. My dad and mom were able to find decent paying jobs. We had electricity and running water. We even had a toilet inside or apartment! Wow! We felt like we had hit the big time!

I kept my eye on the ball of wanting and dreaming of being a musician. Always looking for other musicians to connect with. I played in various local bands, went to jams, played with as many people as I could.

In 1988 I put my name in a raffle at a local music store and won a $1200 Gibson Guit and two tix to go see BB King. I also got to meet BB King back stage and have him sign the guit! That experience changed my life. I fell in love with the blues. I knew this was timeless music and that this was the root of most popular music.

Around this time I was also captivated by the music of Metallica and metals band like that. I loved the extremity of it and the cutting edge of this music. I started playing with metal bands all the while also listening to blues guys like BB King, Muddy waters, T-Bone Walker, Albert King, etc. I finally got myself a little blues band together in 1997, while I was still playing in the metal bands. This was going on simultaneously. I recorded several albums with the metal bands, toured the US, Canada, Europe and South America many times all the wholesome thinking how great it would be to be doing this but playing blues. I wanted to be out touring playing blues. I loved the heavy stuff but the blues was in my heart and closest to it.

In 2005, I finally decided to focus %100 on trying to make a name for myself in the blues world. To be able to put out CDs under my own name tour and make my living solely from playing music. I quit the metal band I was playing with. I started working on my own blues cd. We finished and released it in 2008. In 2009 we went to Memphis Tennessee and participanted in the 2009 International Blues Challenge with over 150 bands from all over the world. We would up earning 1st place that year as well as receiving the Albert King Award that year for Most Promisingly Guitar player of the year! That opened many doors for us and introduced us to the worldwide blues community which have embraced us wholeheartedly. We’ve since released another four CDs and are preparing to release a 5th on Louisiana based record label Whiskey Bayou records, owned and headed by Louisiana roots guitarist, vocalist Tab Benoit. We’ve played numerous festivals and concerts throughout the US, Canada, South America, and Europe. We’ve been nominated for multiple blues music awards most recently a nomination for Blues Rock Artist of the Year by the Blues Foundation in Memphis TN alongside Billy Gibbons, Eric Gales and Tinsley Ellis. We will also performing at this year’s Blues Music Award Ceremony In Memphis TN on May 9th. I feel blessed and honored to get to do what I love for a living, to bring joy to people, put smiles on their faces and to maybe help them to forget about their troubles for a while. I love getting travel the world, experience different cultures and meeting wonderful people everywhere. It’s truly a blessing and a dream come true.

Please tell us about your art.
I write and record music. I get inspired by what’s around me, by situations, by nature by sounds by people. I try to write stuff that the common person can relate to, Stuff that inspires people brings joy to people and happiness. I love when I see people in the audience singing along to songs I write. I love when people request songs that I’ve written. It’s a beautiful thing and it’s very rewarding. The best compliment I get is when someone comes up after a performance and says “thank you”

That’s the best for me. For me, it means that I’ve done my job, that moved or touched this person in a positive way.

What do you think is the biggest challenge facing artists today?
The fact that Art, in general, seems to be at the bottom of the list as far as priority in schools these days. It’s less and less prevalent. I think we need more of an emphasis on the importance art in our lives and in the lives of young people. I’m sure there are many talented kids with untapped abilities that often get overlooked. There needs to be opportunities and outlets for these kids to express themselves, to find what “they” do well and find that special quality about them that’s unique to themselves. Everyone had something. Also being original and trying to come up with one’s own vision, sound or artful pallet. Things like the Voice, America’s Got Talent, etc. are not helping this at all. This takes away the uniqueness and individuality and crams it into a shallow box being judged. Art is art and its value is in eye of who’s looking at it or listening to it. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
Come to a show. We play a lot around South Florida. You can also find us on my website
www.jpsoars.com

Facebook, Instagram, Twitter.  Also our music can be found on I-Tunes, CD Baby and Spotify.

Contact Info:

• Website: jpsoars.com
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: Instagram jpssoars
• Facebook: Facebook JP Soars
• Twitter: twitter jp Soars

Image Credit:
Photo by Marilyn Stringer
Taken at the 2019 Tampa Bay Blues Festival
April 13 2019.

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