Music can touch our hearts, create connections, and speak to our souls. Music transcends time, cultures, and languages, and few instruments can evoke that ethereal and transcendent power as the Native American flute.
Aretha Franklin once said, “Music can take you right back, years back, to the very moment certain things happened in your life.” For Russell Jones, one of those moments would happen while working as a Substance Use Disorder Counselor. The clinical director asked Russ if he would teach a class on Don Miguel Ruiz’s book The Four Agreements. Russ read the book and, at that time, didn’t feel he understood the beliefs well enough to teach them. He politely declined to teach the class; however, several people attending invited him to go with them to Mexico. This simple invitation would take Russ on not only a spiritual journey but a life journey he couldn’t have imagined.
Russ explains, “I kept on resisting, but then three people in two months asked me to go on one of these spiritual journeys to the pyramids of Teotihuacan. So, I agreed to go. I went there, and I had this incredible spiritual experience. A voice came to me and said, ‘You need to move here. You need to find a teacher, and you need to learn from these people.’ So, I did.”
For the next two years, Russ would travel between Utah and Mexico while participating in an apprenticeship and learning about the ideology of the indigenous people of Mexico. Russ shares, “During my apprenticeship, one of my teachers played the flute; part of Don Miguel Ruiz’s and the Mexican indigenous people’s ideology is around vibration. And, I thought, I want to play the flute. […] So, when I came home, I went to the Native American Trading Post on Redwood Road, and I found this little $40 flute that spoke to me. This was in 2011, and, by this time, I’m 53 years old and I’ve never played a musical instrument in my life.” He chuckles as he continues, “I followed the directions on the DVD and did the drill, and the next week I bought a bigger flute, and, that is how I started my journey of playing the flute.”
Across various cultures, wooden flutes are widely associated with spirituality and a connection to nature. Native American flute music, specifically, is a deeply spiritual and evocative art form that carries the rich cultural heritage of Indigenous peoples across North America. Russ was drawn to the emotive, melodic, and soothing tones; the perfect music for meditation, healing, and storytelling. All things that Russ has a passion for, so, it was a natural progression for him to begin recording and sharing his music with others. He explains, “[…] I bought an amplifier, started to add in some echo and reverb, and recorded my first album on my iPhone 4. I put it on YouTube and iTunes, and I made a disc; it wasn’t the most professional recording job, but it got the point across.”
Russ didn’t know it then, but things were about to get a lot more ‘professional’ for this self-taught flautist! He shares, “I asked a friend of mine, Leraine Horstmanshoff, how she played in front of other people, how that all worked, and she told me that we were going to have a concert at her house. So, I had my first concert in Sugar House at Leraine’s. And, I think 50, maybe 60 people showed up, and we had a lot of fun.” Another friend offered to let Russ record in his studio; however, after that experience, Russ discovered that recording in a soundproof room wasn’t his thing.
If you’ve ever heard the almost whispered tones of a wooden flute, you might agree that they deserve to be played in open airy spaces where their vibrations can be felt and heard. And so, Russ would play and record where he was most comfortable: his home or the homes of friends, out among the rustling aspens against the magical backdrop of our beloved Utah mountains, or during his travels to Mexico and Peru where he was one of the very few allowed to play at Machu Picchu. Wherever he was, Russ played every day. He reminisces, “I started posting videos on Facebook, and one of my songs went viral; 40 to 60,000 people listened to it in a month. That was just amazing to me because I’m nobody. I’m like, I don’t even know what I’m doing. I just sit down and play the flute.”
Russ may have thought he was a nobody—but others were taking notice, including professional musician, Douglas Morton. Russ shares, “One day while having lunch with Leraine, Douglas walks in and starts talking to her, and he looks at me and says, ‘Hey! You’re that flute dude. I want to jam with you. Let’s pick a time.’ I was taken aback, I mean he’s been doing music and sounds for over 30 years. He’s played with some of the biggest names in music and rock and roll.” Russ continues, “I went to his place in Park City, and I brought a bunch of flutes, and we played together. He played the keyboards and I played the flute. In an hour and a half, we recorded our first album together called Into the Woods. Douglas was, and still is, so supportive of my music. He’s a perfectionist and he spent a lot of time on that album, which paid off because it won best flute album in Europe.” The two make a great team and in 2023 they released their second album Infinite (Morton Jones) which was picked up by Awareness, a sub-label of Heart Dance Records. “I was really excited and proud to be picked up by a record company. […] It’s great to be recognized and make a little money, but I agree with Douglas, when he says, ‘We play because we want to help people. If we can help someone relax or fall asleep; if we can bring joy to somebody—then we’re doing what we need to be doing as musicians.’” Well, they’re definitely doing something right; Russ, who was recently accepted into the Recording Academy, has been invited to be a voting member for the Grammys.
Russ continues to record and post videos to Facebook; however, he now also live-streams while playing wherever he is every morning from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. He says, “I have the best professional recording equipment now, and a little recording studio at my place, and I can still use some professional help but really I just want to play the flute.” Russ shares that he has fans from Kenya, Australia, the U.K., Canada, and the U.S., who tune in to listen to him play live. “Sometimes there are maybe 20 people, sometimes there are only three. I just play from the heart, and hope I help someone have a better day.”
Playing from the heart, and genuinely wanting to connect with world cultures and their histories has led Russ to embrace wind instruments from around the globe. Over time, Russ has incorporated the haunting tones of the Japanese Shakuhachi and the pastoral sounds of the Balkan Kaval into his repertoire. Each instrument, with its distinct voice, adds a new layer to Russ’s poignant music and emotive performances.
Fourteen years ago, Russ Jones picked up and played his first Native American flute, and since then Russ has been collecting more than just friends and fans, he’s also collected over 300 flutes. “I’m a collector by nature, and so, I started to collect flutes. I read a book by Doctor Richard W. Payne about these old indigenous flutes, and I just became fascinated by these flutes and the people who made them. As I learned about the family names of these old members and the players, I used Facebook to contact their family members. I was interested in their stories and soon discovered that I had a reputation as someone willing to spend money on these old flutes. Some Native flutes I have were born in the 1880s—they’re pretty rare pieces. I don’t know if I have the largest collection in the Western states as a personal person, but I have a pretty good-sized collection.”
When Russ first began his collection, and only had three flutes, he discovered his third flute had a bit of a squeak. This unwanted squeal would lead to another ‘life-changing moment.’ Russ describes his experience, “When I first met Bill Hughes, he had been making flutes for 25 years. I told him, I had one of his flutes and it squeaks when I play. He just looked at me and said, ‘You should play softer.’ So, I blew softer and it played beautifully.” Bill was not only a mentor and support to Russ; he was the inspiration and guide Russ needed to access another gift in his creative toolbox. “Bill kept trying to get me to make a flute, and I told him, I’m a flute player, not a flute maker.” Bill was patient. A few years ago, Russ received a call from a friend about a large walnut tree that had just been cut down. He shares, “It’s believed that Brigham Young planted that tree; it was at one of his wives’ homes in Sugar House. I drove down there, picked up a bunch of the logs, and took them to Bill. And, that’s when he finally talked me into making a flute with him—that was my first flute-making experience.”
The wood a Native flute is crafted from holds significant symbolic meaning and can represent nature, emotion, and connection to the spirit world and the world around us. For Russ, that moment was not merely about producing an instrument; it was more about preserving history, tradition, culture, and a passion that filled his soul with joy. As he continued his journey, Russ was led to another craftsman named, Geoffrey Evans, who taught Russ how to make flutes the old way: hand-carved without a lathe or a router. When one handcrafts a flute one can ensure that each piece carries a unique soul, a resonance that mirrors the vibrational energy of the earth. An instrument that is an extension of the maker. Whether we play, collect, or listen to the tranquil tones to ground ourselves to Mother Nature, we can all learn something from creating a Native flute. So, it makes sense that once Russ began creating custom, hand-crafted flutes for himself, friends started to ask if he would teach them.
“Now I have a little shop outside my cabin where I teach. I have around ten flute students, and in the last three weeks, I’ve taught two other people how to make their own flute. It’s really crazy, I mean, I’m just this guy who loves the flute. I never in my whole life thought I’d be a flute guy, or make flutes, or be a voting member of the Grammys. I thought the only instrument I’d ever play was a stereo. But I love it. And, I’ve met so many amazing people because of it.”
Russ has indeed made connections all over the globe, some world-famous, others well-known within the Native flute realm and various music genres, and thousands of others. Music truly is a universal language that transcends cultural and geographic boundaries.
