Spotlight: Jon Muq
Photo: Jim Herrington
“In Africa, it’s always very hard when you grow up. Many people don’t know their purpose in life—not because they don’t want to, but because you’re not surrounded with things to give you answers. Sometimes, it’s a long journey of figuring out yourself,” Jon Muq recalls of adolescence in Uganda and the creative awakening he’s followed to his first record. “To me, it was music. I didn’t grow up a singer or singing or really admiring music, but there was something about sound that always made me curious.”
Since his childhood in Mutungo Hill, a neighborhood overlooking Kampala, Muq has followed those sounds to experiences that he never imagined. The Austin, Texas based singer-songwriter lives by a learned faith in the workings of the world, and his pursuit of connection through song has led him across an ocean to tours with Billy Joel, Norah Jones, Mavis Staples and more. In May, he released Flying Away, his debut album with Dan Auerbach’s independent imprint Easy Eye Sound; through those 12 sentimental, uplifting and deeply personal tracks, Muq shares his story so far: “The songs, all of them, are the life I’ve really lived.”
Muq has been curiously drawn to music for as long as he can remember. In primary school, he sat between the chairs of a visiting brass band so often that he learned to play the bugle by intuition. In secondary school, he shook from his sleep and floated up to the third floor of his dorm to eavesdrop on the choir. He first heard a guitar at 16, then walked five hours each day to watch a stranger play the enthralling instrument.
“It’s the only small thing that I had to show me: ‘You are born to do something. Even though you don’t have musicians around you, or you don’t have a TV or radio to listen to a Western song.’ So that journey starts from all those things,” Muq shares. “You know, when you get a sign about what you love in life, follow those signs. They don’t have answers at that time, but the more you follow them, they will make sense.”
For Muq, life-changing signs often came from unlikely sources. While visiting his cousin in Kampala, he stumbled on a dust-covered copy of the U.S.A. for Africa charity single “We Are the World.” “That kicked it for me. I was like, ‘From today, I’m going to start singing,’” he reminisces. “I learned that song, I sang it and I played that CD till it could not play anymore.” Later, when he became more confident singing in English—his first language is Luganda—Muq began to perform for homeless children in Kampala. At the encouragement of a friend, he shared videos of his street shows online, which quickly earned an invitation to sing at sea from Norwegian Cruise Line.
“Imagine someone sending you a message: ‘Do you want to sing on a big boat?’ You’re in Africa. You’ll be like, ‘This is the biggest scam I’ve ever seen,’” he laughs.
With some convincing, Muq seized the opportunity and packed up for his first-ever flight. After a formative stint in the Caribbean, with his return ticket in hand, the artist felt his heart pulling in another direction; rather than end his journey, he called around for another frontier. Muq volunteered to perform for free at a refugee center in Austin and touched down just in time for 2018’s South by Southwest. (He remembers asking his hosts: “Why is everyone with guitars?”). Since then, he’s found a second home in the Live Music Capital of the World and the foundation for a burgeoning national career.
“I’ve learned so much that, in a Western society, you have the privilege to dream. I didn’t have a privilege to dream,” Muq remarks of his uncommon experience in his new setting. “Many people ask me: ‘Was that your dream?’ No, it wasn’t. I just lived each day the way it came, following the calling, following my instinct and following what my heart tells me to do. That’s the only privilege I had.”
Lightning struck twice in 2023 when Muq’s heartrending cover of The Beatles’ “Blackbird” caught the ear of Auerbach, who instantly made contact. After eight months of casual sessions at The Black Keys frontman’s Nashville studio, the recording dates for Flying Away were just as breezy as they sound. “We managed to knock out this album in one take per song,” Muq shares. “Actually, they thought we were going to take four months to do overdub stuff, but there was some magic around it that we trusted. We were like, ‘That’s it. We don’t add in anything.’”
Muq’s debut is defined by a resolvedly hopeful feeling that shines from the universal insights in his personal experiences. His gift for finding the silver lining is most affecting in the lead single “Runaway,” which conjures encouragement to brave uncertainty from his memories of leaving Uganda. “In life, we run from good and bad, but it takes courage,” the singer observes. “Sometimes, you run and you don’t know why you’re running, but you just have to run.”
“When I got the chance to sing on the boat, I was 22. The only thing I thought about at that moment was the opportunity—I didn’t think about my sisters, my parents or my friends,” Muq reflects. “But after a period of time, I knew I ran from the good things in my life to come into a new country by myself. And it taught me a lesson: Every day, you keep on growing on every road that you travel down.”
In January, Muq will return to Mutungo Hill for the first time since he set out nearly a decade ago. He’s eager to reconnect with his family and share his travels in pursuit of music. (“They still can’t believe I sing English,” he quips.)
Beyond this long-awaited visit and a few songs in the bank, the artist doesn’t have any plans for his next steps; as always, he’s waiting for his path forward to reveal itself, and he’s ready to roam on as he sees the signs. “Honestly, I don’t know anything about the future,” he says. “I know that if any opportunity comes, I’ll just embrace it—it’s the one to lead me to that future. And every day is the future. They call it in America ‘go with the flow.’ I like to go with the flow.”
