Bachelor Nation’s John Paul Jones is releasing an album. It’s important you successfully grapple with that fact first, because the next one is even weider: it is Friendsgiving-themed. The former Bachelorette contestant, who went on to be in a dramatic season on Bachelor In Paradise and, up until this moment, has shown no inkling of musicality, has not followed the traditional ex-Bach path of Instagram sponcon or podcasting. Instead, he has hitched his wagon to a partner so unpredictable it could only be JPJ who does it: Honeybaked Ham. Together, John Paul Jones and the Honeybaked Ham Band released A Very Special Friendsgiving, a four-song EP featuring the tracks “All Gravy” and “Thanks for Coming, But It’s My Bedtime” that's also available on Spotify.
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“Well, all of my friends / Are here for the right reasons,” he sings in “The Friendsgiving Song.” “Some of them are single / Some of them from different seasons.”
He hopes to provide a soundtrack for the part of the festive season that is often overlooked on playlists, and prides himself on likely being the first Friendsgiving artist.
“Do you know of any other Friendsgiving songs or carols?” he asks me when we jump on the phone ahead of the EP’s release. I can’t say I do, and for that reason, I can say with near-certainty that “All Gravy” is now the number one Friendsgiving song in the world. Quite a feat for a first-time artist!
But JPJ isn’t in it for the fame. As he explained, he hopes people like having something to listen to while they share delicious food with their friends. Listen, if Stagecoach invited him to perform next year, he wouldn’t say no.
How did this all start?
“A lot of other holidays have carols associated with them, but there was no carol for Friendsgiving. So I just thought it'd be a good idea to come up with a carol for the holiday and I was fortunate enough to partner with Honeybaked Ham for the endeavor.”
Were you always musical?
“I've dabbled a little bit here and there for sure, but I'm, I suppose, a performer of sorts, so it's really not outside of my comfort zone.”
Obviously, Jed Wyatt, from your season of The Bachelorette, is also a musician and he ended up only being on the show for fame. Bachelor musicians don’t have a great reputation. Is that something you had in mind while making this?
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“I really didn't think about that at all, to be honest. When I was on the show it never crossed my mind I'd be doing anything like this. Jed's great guy. Hopefully, it improves the optics of his whole fiasco.”
Would you ever do a duet with him?
“We'll see, we'll see. Hopefully the outcome of this is positive.”
Who from Bachelor Nation is invited to your Friendsgiving?
“I'd invite everybody, the entire cast. I think it'd be a great time to get everyone on the same page and settle up any undisputed differences than any of the guys may have had. Wouldn't that be cool, if Luke P. became friends with everybody and made amends? Wouldn't that be great?”
Would you want to be known as a musical person if you were to step into Paradise again?
“I'll say this: I had such a great experience in Bachelor Nation. I loved everything the producers did for me. I grew a lot from the relationship that I was in. But it would definitely take some convincing to go back to Paradise. It was a lot of fun. I feel pretty confident that one round may have been sufficient.”
Plus, your music career is really going to take up a lot of your time now.
“Gosh. Stop. I don't know! I just hope people say positive things about it and, hopefully, people acquire this as part of their Friendsgiving routine.”
Do you plan on bringing these songs to Stagecoach?
“That's a whole other can of worms. Yeah, sure. I mean, to what effect?”
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You could be the Stagecoach Troubadour, just kind of roaming.
“Walking around with a Bluetooth speaker playing Friendsgiving songs in May. That’d be funny for sure.”
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
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