Making it Work on the Eastern Shore: Kentavius Jones Finds the Balance

By growing up in Talbot County, and then earning his college degree at Washington College, Kentavius Jones was very much at home on the Eastern Shore, but as he started his career in music, the urge to go “west young man” was too strong to resist. He left Chestertown for that mecca of young, undiscovered talent — Los Angeles — the “wild, wild west of music” to launch a new life in the arts.

While Kentavious was not eaten alive, as many young people are by LA’s notoriously unforgiving music industry, he did make a discovery there that changed his life and eventually where he lived.  He found that it was the “back side” of the business; the music composition, mixing, and sound engineering part, that was not only just as satisfying as performance for him, but potentially just as lucrative. More importantly, you didn’t need to be in Los Angeles to start a career. Within three years, Jones was back on the Shore, working with friends at Rise Up Coffee to launch a wholesale sales division and also have the time needed for composing.

In his Spy interview, Kentavius talks about his changing perspective on what a career can be, his love of creating music, and a local mentor who showed you can follow your ambition but also maintain an Eastern Shore quality of life.

This video is approximately four minutes in length. Additional video footage graciously provided by PRS Guitars.