The soft indie rock sounds of local band Darnabee Jones draw crowds of students, parents, and community members with every performance. Always on the lookout for new opportunities to perform, this band has immersed itself in Princeton’s arts community since elementary school, making it the kind of band that quite literally grew up together. With an impressive list of gigs under its belt, this local band can trace its roots back to the town’s Littlebrook and Riverside Elementary Schools, where Sara Carson ’23, Sophia “Snowy” Grossman ’23, and Jane Bennett ’24 first started playing together along with a few others. Now, with weekly rehearsals and occasional performances, this small band has a repertoire of covers wide enough to cover a variety of genres, although they mostly play indie pop and rock.

With Carson on guitar, Grossman on bass, and Bennett on drums and lead vocals, their small size allows them to create a beautiful blend and balance while letting each member shine individually. But besides their amazing musicianship, the band means much more to its members.

“Playing with these two is relaxing, and so it’s good that it has no pressure. I look forward to relieving stress with them [the other band members],” Carson said.

The band has no definite plans for the future years after high school, as they prefer leaving as many opportunities open as possible.

“I kind of like that there is no direction, it’s kind of just like having fun. In the future, if we’re all in one place at the same time I would love to get together,” Carson said.

What is clear is that they are all willing to put in the effort to keep playing together, even after high school.

“I think it would be fun to play with [Carson and Grossman] in college, if we went around to each other’s colleges,” Bennett said.

“We’re definitely gonna; we have to meet up again,” Grossman added.

Playing together for seven years has helped the band grow as musical individuals.

“We’ve totally advanced, like kind of as a unit, since we’ve spent so much time together.” Grossman said.

“It’s been a really, really good experience to get to know them, and I feel like all of our preferences and some of the stuff we know has merged,” Carson said.

Both Carson and Grossman are currently in the school’s top band, PHS Studio Band, and Bennett is enrolled in a Manhattan School of Music pre-college program, all high-level positions for young musicians to achieve.

Students, teachers, and parents alike are impressed with the quality of music that such a small group of students is able to achieve, and their local performances at town hubs such as Small World and the Ivy draw many listeners. Though they don’t have any gigs planned out for the next few months, once the last quarter of the school year is over, they plan on having a summer full of concerts. Follow them on Instagram @darnabeejones for updates on their next performances.