A Conversation with Jon Batiste
on his new album, BIG MONEY and his ongoing tour coming to Vail and Red Rocks.
Evan Dale | August 22, 2025
It’s hard to comprehend the success that Jon Batiste has experienced in his career as an artist and a performer. And yet, in so many ways the things that may define traditional success have never been the driving force behind the multi-instrumentalist, composer, songwriter, and vocalist’s rise and evolution through music. Constantly maneuvering through different stylistic spaces spanning classical and soul to jazz, blues, and Southern Rock, his catalogue is as impossibly wide-ranging as his skillset. So, how does an artist with so much breadth pull the extents of his sound together for a cohesive live performance?
‘We really love to take the audience on a journey when they come to see us,’ he explained, taking the time to speak with us the day after his tour’s opening night in Central Park, and en route to his upcoming tour dates including a stop at the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater in Vail, Colorado on September 3. ‘We want folks to go home and feel that it was such a transformative, joyous, transcendent experience. So, I use my catalog to my advantage in that regard because it's so varied that we really can make a journey out of the show.’
That journey is one built on the foundation of Batiste’s immense canon, not only tethering different musical spaces to one another, but also curating an extensive exploration of emotion. ‘The more that I add to the catalog – the more that I add to the story – it really adds an interesting ability to make the shows very one-of-one. I can cultivate the show to the environment to the audience. If you go to every show, you'll see a different expression of the same kind of journey through human emotion, and at the same time a journey through the history of music.’
Most recently, and with today’s release of his latest album, BIG MONEY, Batiste is focusing on the roots of his own geography, his own family, and the origins of recorded music. Where his past works have honed in on everything from solo piano composition – Beethoven Blues – to Neo-Soulful ballads weaving in and out of more up-tempo lyricism – WE ARE – BIG MONEY is a celebration of the multihyphenate New Orleans artist’s roots, spinning the Americana sounds of Blues, Southern Rock, Gospel, and Soul into a timeless take on the mosaic of his early influences.
‘It’s exciting to go back to the essence of recorded music,’ said Batiste, ‘where people were in the same room, breathing the same air, playing it all on a couple microphones – singing together, creating a moment, capturing that moment like lightning in a bottle.’
The majority of BIG MONEY’s tracks were recorded in single takes and came together over a relatively short period of time, reinforcing that spirit of early recording, and making for a raw, authentic musical voyage across its half-hour playtime.
‘This has been such an incredible flow state of creativity for me right now,’ Batiste continued. ‘Just even in the last 12 months. To have the previous album be on the piano solo, and then to now do this guitar driven album…. It’s just so much fun.”’
BIG MONEY nostalgic and familiar, reaching towards its roots. And yet it’s modern, intentional, and most-importantly fun, invoking its listener to step right onto the dancefloor.
‘I'm glad that it’s an opportunity for me now to have success on my own terms, to make things where I know there’s truth to the craft, and make a thing as great as it can be. To study music – to really make music that is moving people from a real, authentic place.’
Jon Batiste’s tour is ongoing and in its early stages, so check his calendar for a date near you. He is at the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater in Vail on September 3 and Red Rocks the following night.
As of today, BIG MONEY is available everywhere
See our full conversation with Jon Batiste below:
Ringleader: First off, congratulations on the release of BIG MONEY and the tour. Fans and listeners are really looking forward to both.
Jon Batiste: Oh my goodness, it’s going to be extremely special.
Ringleader: Regarding the album, and with the releases of both its titular track and an accompanying leading single – Lonely Avenue – your sound towards BIG MONEY’s release feels particularly rooted in the roots of your own story – or even more particularly – the roots of your own family and geography. Blues and Jazz and Rock and an inescapable Southern, Gulf Coast, Louisiana feel. What does it mean to you to be exploring and recording that side of your musical self?
Jon Batiste: It's so much fun, first off. It was such a beautiful performance we did last night at Central Park in New York – the first, really kick-off playing these songs from the album live. It’s just a lot of fun. It’s exciting to go back to the essence of recorded music where people were in the same room, breathing the same air, playing it all on a couple microphones – singing together, creating a moment, capturing that moment like lightning in a bottle. Then going out on stage and performing every night, recreating that with the people there. It’s different at every performance. The energy of the moment and the peaks of the moment are different at every show, and that’s what’s exciting, you know? I’m very much looking forward to bringing these songs to the stage.
Ringleader: Performance is so related to the music – or in your case, also the character – at hand. As an artist that has so thoroughly performed in classical settings, on the Late Show, at the Super Bowl, and even acting in a Spike Lee joint, how are you approaching performance now on your tour as your sound continues to evolve from project to project? And how does your performance flow alongside the immense range of your music in a live setting?
Jon Batiste: Oh man, great question. I love that. I thought about it and am still thinking about it as I evolve and continue to put out recordings. This has been such an incredible flow state of creativity for me right now, just even in the last 12 months. To have the previous album be Beethoven Blueson the piano solo, and then to now do this guitar driven album, BIG MONEY. Even just that song and the approach to it. At the same show you'll have moments where we're playing, and then play the piano and I'll play some of my catalog that is from the piano and then it will go into another air of the music that I've recorded. Then we’ll be in the crowd and we’ll be marching. It'll be like a New Orleans procession or a second line with a band in the crowd, marching and performing. It's a party. It’s a joy party. We actually call it a love riot for that reason – it feels so kinetic. So, we’ll be love rioting, marching, so there's a full range of human emotion. We really love to take the audience on a journey when they come to see us. We want folks to go home and feel that it was such a transformative, joyous, transcendent experience. I use my catalog to my advantage in that regard because it's so varied that we really can make a journey out of the show.
Ringleader: The thought crossed our mind – like how can he possibly encapsulates so many musical spaces in a live performance – we’re excited to see it.
Jon Batiste: Yeah man, it's very exciting to build a show because of that. The more than I add to the catalog – the more that I add to the story – it really adds an interesting ability to make the shows very one-of-one. I can cultivate the show to the environment to the audience and really make the shows – if you go to every show, you'll see a different expression of the same kind of journey through human emotion, and at the same time a journey through the history of music.
Ringleader: You’ve accomplished a lot in your career. At this point – having found success that would define most artists’ careers – how are you defining success in your own art and your own journey?
Jon Batiste: Being real. Being authentic. Just having a true relationship with the craft, and being able to serve people. Then really going out there and making people’s lives better with what I do. It’s so impactful for me when I go to the show and see families at a performance. You know, we were at the show recently and it was four generations of one family that came out. To see people who bring their mother or grandmother; they’re bringing their kid and it’s their first concert. Seeing that there's a real community around it, that family values can be centered around connecting with community. I love to communicate that by bringing the performance on stage as an extension of that collaboration and uplifting people from the community. Uplifting people who are the unsung heroes, bringing elders to the stage as well as up-and-coming performers. I really think about it like the circus of love. It's like the circus is coming to town and it's a mix between a love circus and a creative church. It’s a revival. You leave and you feel it in your bones that there's something that you really received from us.
So, I'm glad that it’s an opportunity for me now to have success on my own terms, to make things where I know there’s truth to the craft, and make a thing as great as it can be. To study music – to really make music that is moving people from a real, authentic place. It’s the attention economy right now. I believe that you have to continue to pursue excellence in the craft, you know? Greatness was replaced by fame, and now fame has been replaced by attention. You don't even have to have a skill or craft. You can just do something outlandish or sensationalized. So, I really am grateful that we built an amazing community around the world based on true things and authentic things with the right intentions. And I'm excited to expand on that and continue to move people out there.
If you're looking to attend Jon Batiste's show in Vail, check out our covergae of the Leon Bridges show from earlier this Summer:
