Allison E. Francis
GREAT BARRINGTON â As Rufus Jones Jr. worked the trading desk at a Wall Street firm, his own music inundated him.
âI would send myself texts and emails and voice messages to capture all the melodies in my head, because I couldnât keep up,â the part-time Great Barrington resident said.
Then came the cornavirus pandemic that confined him to his Jersey City, N.J., apartment. Soon, there would be other horrors in the 2020 news cycle, including the death of George Floyd while in Minneapolis Police custody in May.
For Jones, the news sparked more songs, and the music flying through him needed more of his time. In November, he quit that day job after amassing his own recording equipment, and learning do-it-yourself-style production and distribution.