Pour us another one, so we can cheer to Caroline Jones! The “Come In” singer is preparing to make her CMA Awards debut and she is joining none other than Zac Brown Band for the big night! “It’s a dream come true,” Caroline gushed in an EXCLUSIVE interview with HollywoodLife.com. “It’s something I’ve dreamed up for a very long time. If you’d told me that my first CMAs that I played, I was going to be playing the organ and singing with Zac Brown Band, I would never ever have believed you. But, that’s what is so cool about the journey of life.”
Caroline linked up with Zac Brown Band for their Comeback Tour this year, after returning from an extended stay in New Zealand, where she fell in love with not only the country and its people, but also her now-fiancé. ” I’s been amazing touring with ZBB this this whole year and being a part of their family and their culture and learning so much,” she said. “They’ve really helped me along and taken me under their wing, and I’ve become a better musician. It’s inspired me so much. So, as you can see, I’m over the moon.”
The “No Daylight” singer opened up further about her sophomore album, Antipodes, which is in many ways a love letter to New Zealand, and her fiancé Nick Dana. “It was probably one of the most incredible experiences of my life thus far. A lot of this album was finished there and I wrote a few songs on the record in New Zealand, as well,” Caroline explained. “I called it Antipodes, which means the opposite end of the world, so it’s a colloquialism for New Zealand. And all the visuals, all the photography, all the videos, like we filmed everything there. I’m just so happy to be able to bring a piece of that time in my life to people, through this record.”
One of the final songs on the album is “So Many Skies,” which Caroline actually co-wrote with her fiancé. “It’s probably the most special song on the album. It is so meaningful to me and to Nick, it’s our story,” she revealed. “Half of the song is about Nick’s life before he met me, and the other half is about my life before I met him. And then the end is about kind of us coming together and starting our own life together.” She’s joined by Matthew Ramsey of Old Dominion on the track, which she recalled as “such a cool and special moment.”
Be sure to tune into the CMA Awards tonight at 8 PM ET on ABC for Caroline’s performance with Zac Brown Band and her new album, Antipodes, out on Friday, Nov. 12!