Caroline Jones on Touring, Releasing an Album and Preparing to Welcome a Baby – All at the Same Time (Exclusive)

"Making the decision to start a family with a career like this and in this industry — I'm going to need a lot of grit and resilience," the musician tells PEOPLE

On the outside, Caroline Jones is absolutely beaming as she waits for the arrival of her and husband Nick Dana’s first child. But inside, it’s a bit of another story for the Nashville-based country singer/songwriter.

“I can feel the third trimester tiredness coming on for sure,” Jones, 33, tells PEOPLE in a recent Zoom interview outside her Nashville area home. “These last few weeks are going to be wild.”

Indeed, not only is the singer/songwriter busy prepping for her little one’s arrival expected in mid-November, but she has also been prepping for the arrival of her third studio album Homesite along with the album’s title track, with the official studio video premiering exclusively on PEOPLE.

“This album and this song are about building myself a little spot, hopefully in country music over time, and building a career and a fan base that I'm really grateful for and that I'm proud of,” explains Jones, who co-produced Homesite alongside Ric Wake and Brandon Hood. “It's about building my family for the first time and building this new life and this new chapter. And then, there are big themes on this record such as grit and resilience and building those into your character. There's a lot of songs about that on this record.”

Take, for example, the song “Superpower.”

“All the highs and moments of fulfillment and excitement and passion and elation are almost always met with moments of disappointment and rejection and things not going the way you planned,” she says of track six on the album that also includes the electrifying “Lawless” and the hauntingly beautiful “Talking to Milo.”

“I think framing that in a context of grit and resilience is something that I've been working on, something I want to teach my kid and something that my husband's really taught me. Just making the decision to start a family with a career like this and in this industry — I'm going to need a lot of grit and resilience.”

Jones draws in a deep breath.

“I'd rather struggle in music my whole life than do anything else,” Jones says. “This is just who I am and who I must be.”

Related: Zac Brown Band Welcomes Newest Member Caroline Jones: 'Greatest Honor of My Career'

The East Coast bred firecracker — whose single “Come In (But Don’t Make Yourself Comfortable)” snagged her first Top 30 country radio hit back in 2021 — is going to need a whole lot more energy in the coming weeks having recently wrapped up her Barefoot & Pregnant Tour at LA’s Troubadour but continuing onward alongside the Zac Brown Band as part of their “From the Fire Tour” through Nov. 4.

“To be able to stand up there on stage at this point in my pregnancy is a big deal,” remarks Jones, who has spent recent years juggling her solo career while being a part of Zac Brown Band. “I know what it meant to me to see Maren Morris doing that and [Carrie] Underwood doing that. It means a lot. It’s a beautiful thing.”

Related: Inside Zac Brown Band's Out in the Middle Tour: Go Behind-the-Scenes with the Guys

But mourning her friend Jimmy Buffett while inviting new life in the world at the same time has left Jones on a bit of an emotional rollercoaster as of late.

“It is the circle of life I guess,” she says quietly about losing the artist who brought her out as an opening act and special guest in 2018 and 2019, despite being notorious for having no openers at his shows. “I think that my primary emotion is just gratitude for having been in the orbit of someone so special, so singular, so extraordinary, and so brilliant. I mean, I just feel so lucky. You just don't get to script things like that in your life. It's a blessing and a privilege to know someone like that, let alone have them take you under their wing.”

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