Jon Muq // The Eisenberg Review Interview
Jon Muq’s story has the arc of a fable—born in Uganda, transplanted to Austin, and now standing center stage on festival bills alongside legends like Mavis Staples and Norah Jones. But listen closely and you’ll hear something subtler, more intimate. His songs aren’t victory laps—they’re offerings. “I always thought, if I can communicate with people through music, it will make me feel like I am not alone,” he says. “Everything happened because I was following sound.”
That instinct carries through Flying Away, Muq’s soulful, genre-fluid debut on Dan Auerbach’s Easy Eye Sound. It’s a record full of grace and curiosity, tracing the shape of a migrant’s journey—both literal and emotional. With vintage textures, globe-spanning grooves, and a voice like velvet in sunlight, Muq toes the line between melancholy and hope, between not belonging and belonging everywhere at once.
Now, with a North American tour underway and a radiant new single called “Hear My Voice,” Muq continues to reach outward. In our conversation, we talk about his musical upbringing, the joy and ache inside Flying Away, collaborating with Auerbach, and what it means to find your voice in a fast-moving world—and share it with others.