A onetime member of the family gospel group forever JONES, singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist DOE went on to earn her third Grammy nomination and first as a soloist with her featured spot on Jonathan McReynolds' 2018 track "Cycles." She debuted her own warm, soul-infused contemporary gospel music with the Doe EP in 2020. Today, she releases her debut album Clarity! We dug into her influences, how she blends genres, and how she doesn’t allow language to be a barrier for the radical message of the Gospel.

Congrats on your release! How does it feel to have your debut album out in the world?

I have to say that I’m so excited about my album release! I’ve been waiting for this statement to be out to the world: to share with the world what I’ve learned, what I’ve walked through, how I’ve grown, and now I finally get to tell these stories and incase them in beautiful melodies.

I truly believe that this album and the lyrics and the message within each song will bring healing and freedom to a lot of people.

Melodically, you really seem to incorporate a lot of pop and R&B-influenced hooks, lines, etc. Can you tell us some of your biggest influences in the secular world?

As far as my influences from the secular world, I wasn't really allowed to listen to secular music at home growing up as a pastor's daughter. But I did find ways to listen. I'll never forget being in front of the TV and watching India.Arie kill it and make her big debut on The Oprah Winfrey Show. I'll never forget when Sister Act II came out and I was introduced to who Lauryn Hill was. I loved her MTV Sessions album and just everything that she did. Lauryn Hill in every area made a huge impact in my life. Other artists I’d include as secular influences are Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Jonas Brothers, India.Arie, JP Saxe and Ben Platt. Each of their sounds inspire me so much!

And speaking of, what is your motivation behind blurring genres? Is it to reach more people wherever they are spiritually, simply a musical preference, or something else?

I don't really have a motivation behind these blurring genres, I think that my motivation for my music is just to tell the truth. And I want to tell all of the truth.

I think that the lines between secular and Christian music genres need to be blurred more for the sake of adding more practical application into the conversation. People need to know how to worship and live healthy, abundant lives and be effective. As Christian artists, we tend to spend a lot of time pointing to the answer, but I believe it’s time to show how we live life through the Answer every day.

One of the things that we sometimes fail to do in worship is tell our story and talk about our experiences. We do a great job of pointing the eyes of the congregation toward the Father and saying: Look at Jesus; He is beautiful.

But I think it's time for us to say, look at what Jesus has done through me and how he's changed my human experience on this Earth.

“When I Pray” is this really cool combination of traditional Gospel, with the backing choir-like BGVs and real, upright piano, and modern beats. Tell us about the recording process on this one!

My brother, Dewitt and I wrote this song in New York. He and I were praying through some things for a family member, and I was reminded of a quote my dad always says – “Prayer is the ancient wireless system where there are no dropped calls.” He’s always taught us about prayer. Dewitt played a sample and I started writing about how God hears, receives and responds to anyone who calls out to him in prayer, not just those who know how to pray eloquently and appear to have it all together, but anyone who will approach him humbly.

We went back to Shreveport and got into the studio with our other brother, Judah. I gathered everyone in my family’s house upstairs together to sing the chorus. It was fun! Some of the vocals from that demo are still on the track.

It’s hard to predict which song will connect most with people but if you had to guess, which song do you think will connect most with the Church specifically on this record?

I know you asked for one, but I'm going to give you three. I feel like “When I Pray,” “So Good” and “What I’m Waiting For” are three songs on my album that will connect in a very deep way with the Church.

Mercy draws people toward the feet of Jesus, but these songs help give a more beautiful understanding of what mercy is and paint a picture of my thankfulness for the grace of God.

DOE