Joss Stone On The Power Of Live Music, Touring With Melissa Etheridge

In 2014, English singer songwriter Joss Stone set out on her most ambitious concert tour to date, dreaming up her “Total World Tour.”

Stone launched the trek with a noble but logistically challenging goal: to perform in every country on earth.

Reaching a stage in locations like Libya, Yemen and North Korea, Stone ultimately snuck across the border to perform in Syria before being deported from Iran on the final day of the tour – nearly five and a half years (and 200 performances) later in July 2019.

Prepping a busy 2025, Stone launched her new “Less Is More” tour this week at Nashville’s City Winery, an intimate outing set to run through February ahead of a series of U.S. dates alongside rocker Melissa Etheridge kicking off April 18 in Atlantic City.

The “Less Is More” tour in particular gives fans the rare opportunity to see her performing in smaller venues which place the onus squarely on storytelling and Joss Stone songs.

Ironically, the idea for the no frills run was inspired by the sprawling expanse of her “Total World Tour.”

“When we did that tour, we started with the full band – and then realized that that was never ever going to be possible to fund it like that,” Stone explained during a recent phone conversation, looking back on the global journey. “So, it was me and a guitar player. And I remember the first time we did that – and it was so gorgeous! It was just such a lovely, sort of intimate, kind of moment,” said the singer. “I feel like sometimes taking stuff away adds in a way. And I was just sort of reminiscing about those gigs. But we’ve added something special. We’ve got two extra voices – so, I get my harmonies – and we’ve also added a special instrument that we never have, which is a cello. So, even though it’s acoustic, it doesn’t mean that it’s particularly soft the whole time. It won’t be boring. It will be beautiful,” said Stone. “And I’m really pregnant now! So, it’s really nice for me to do this now – because I can just sit down. It’s sort of the perfect timing for this type of show.”

In 2005, nominated for a trio of Grammys following the release of her sophomore studio effort Mind Body & Soul, Stone took part in a Grammys tribute to legendary singer Janis Joplin.

Meeting Etheridge for the first time during the Grammy moment, the pair ultimately released their live take on Joplin’s “Cry Baby” and “Piece of my Heart” as a single following the event, Stone’s first to crack the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, entering the U.S. top 40 that April.

Getting to know Etheridge would have a lasting impact.

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“I can’t wait to join her. She’s such a lovely lady. She’s been an inspiration to me way before I met her,” said Stone of the pairing. “I’ve been listening to her since I was in the womb. My mom and dad were obsessed with her. So, I was always inspired by her lyrics – the way that she makes music. But, when I met her, I was sort of doubly inspired by the personality she is,” Stone explained. “She’s very smart. She’s very logical. She’s just like a really balanced person to talk to. She’s said some things to me that have changed my attitude to difficult circumstances. And that has really helped. She may not know that,” added the singer. “But just to be around her is a positive. To be able to sing with her is like a dream. And to be able to sing on the same bill as her is just a very special thing for me personally.”

This past September, Stone released her latest single “Loving You,” collaborating with Jamaican reggae artist Shaggy on a reimagined take of the tune, one appropriate on Valentine’s Day thanks to its romantic lean.

In an era of pop often defined by the use of tools like Auto-Tune, which enhance vocal performance by fixing pitch, live concerts have come to rely more and more on backing vocal and instrumental tracks, with fans forced to embrace occasionally artificial on stage moments.

But Stone’s concerts reflect the magic and art of live performance. So, the question in recording her first live album, 20 Years of Soul Live in Concert, was in how to replicate the on stage experience.

“I was so anti doing a live album for so long,” Stone admitted. “Live, of course, we’re not perfect. None of us are perfect. And, for me, staying in tune is such a big deal. I really feel like if you can’t do that, maybe you should pick a different job. You can enjoy music. You can sit around the campfire. But, for the love of god, do not use Auto-Tune, right? So, it really like bothered me,” said the singer with a chuckle. “Anyway, I asked the fans – which I have gotten in the habit of doing regularly, because I love that whole part of social media, that I get to actually ask them stuff and they tell me. There were so many messages like, ‘Please, please, please do a live album!’ So, I did it as a 20 year celebration,” said Stone.

“And I have to tell you. I guess I’m an emotional person. But one day, I’m folding my clothes and I’m listening to the mix of the live album. And I started crying! I had a moment of being really proud that I didn’t sound like sh-t! I had a relief moment!” said Stone through a chuckle. “Because I’ve never listened back to my live shows. Why would I do that? But, of course, you have to when you make a record. You have to listen to the mix,” she said. “But I’m so glad I did it.”

Each stop of the “Total World Tour” maintained a charitable component, with the singer founding her own Joss Stone Foundation in an effort to assist nearly 200 localized charities, setting aside a small portion of each concert ticket sold to fund the efforts.

What sets Stone’s foundation apart is the way in which it sees through the distribution of any funds raised, providing necessary oversight while ensuring the maximum benefit of each dollar allocated at the local level.

Working to assist refugee camps in Djibouti, Stone helped gather and provide more than 250 musical instruments, taking things even further in Iraq.

“There’s so many charities we visited. We visited one in every country. So, I noticed that there were some that needed help and some that were fine. And we’d be amazed just watching what they were doing. But that’s the reason I set up the foundation: so I could collect donations for them and help them,” said Stone. “I can say, ‘This is the project we’re doing. And this is how much we think it’s going to cost.’ And people can donate to that. I just hate if people don’t know where their money is going,” she said.

“We did a project in a refugee camp in Iraq. And that was really helpful. We set up a nail salon in the refugee camp for these women that had been stolen by ISIS and had escaped. They had escaped – but they had no family left. They had escaped – but they had no home left. So, they were just stuck in this refugee camp with no way of getting out and no way of getting a job in Iraq,” explained the singer. “And some of them wanted to go to Australia – because there was an opportunity for that to happen. But, then, when they get there, what are they going to do? Because they don’t have a skill. So, I thought, ‘What can we do that’s really great for women that gets them talking and gives them a skill that’s transferable?’ So, we set up a little nail salon. And we sent people over to help to get these women certified so they could then get a job,” said Stone. “It’s actually a really simple idea. It just needed a little bit of focused effort. So, we did that. And now there’s a handful of them that are certified. And they’re handing their skills to their sisters. It’s really nice to see that happening, you know?” she continued. “We’re not raising millions and millions. I wouldn’t even know how to begin to do that. But we do as much as we can.”

During tumultuous times, few mediums bring people together quite like live music.

For Stone, the role of music as an escape, as well as a unifying force amidst division, places an added importance upon the upcoming live dates, reinforcing a valuable lesson learned during her “Total World Tour.”

“I’ve found that people are the same,” she began. “We’re all the same. We all love. And we all get desperately hurt when our love gets injured. And I don’t think that that changes from country to country or culture to culture. We all want our babies to be OK. That’s just in us, you know?” Stone continued. “We think we’re so different – and that’s such a shame to believe that. Because we’re not. We don’t need to be fighting. We’re just lovers. All people are. And, if their love has been injured, that’s what makes them do mean things to people, you know?” she continued.

“You know when COVID happened and everyone wasn’t allowed out? I think it was really difficult for people mentally. Because they weren’t allowed to have that moment where they came together to sort of be in their pain together – or be within their laughter together,” Joss Stone explained. “I think that’s very healing. And it’s very important for our health. And it’s physical as well as mental. You get to go and feel an emotion with your mates. Even if you’re on your own, you get to sit next to another human being and have an interaction. I think it’s important. I really do. It’s a lovely thing.”