Lloyd Jones

"You know who's really good? This guy named Lloyd Jones out of Portland!"
- Robert Cray

Click to Visit Lloyd Jones on the web.

Lloyd Jones is a consummate guitarist/singer/songwriter/arranger/performer/ bandleader. One of the most original artists on the modern day blues scene, Jones is, in the words of Blues Revue, "certainly worthy of greater recognition." The release of his first recording for Blind Pig Records, Love Gotcha, should bring him the national and international acclamation he deserves.

Jones was born in Seattle into a musical family, which moved to Portland soon afterward. "I remember music was everywhere in our house growing up. My dad was playing Dixieland jazz records and trying to teach me to play trumpet when I was only five years old. My older brother played drums and showed me how. Then he took me to his band rehearsals and had me playing gigs when I was just 13. He took me to see James Brown in '64. You've got to imagine James in '64 - ouch! Then B.B. King, Buddy Guy, even Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee - all this before I was out of high school. I was underage and totally mesmerized"

Jones got deep into the blues and was the leader of Portland's most popular blues bands, Brown Sugar, in the early 70's. "We got to work with touring musicians in those days, like Charlie Musselwhite, George "Harmonica" Smith, the Johnny Otis show, Big Mama Thornton and Big Walter Horton. That's how we learned, and that's really when I first picked up the guitar. A lot of times these people would stay at our homes and teach us music and history. Some of them have passed now, so I cherish those memories. S.P. Leary, who was in Muddy Waters band and was playing drums with Big Walter at the time, leaned over to me as he was leaving town and said, "Man, I'm getting old. You gotta keep it alive. It's a struggle sometimes, but if you love it, you keep on struggling."'

Through the years Jones would continue to hone his craft by performing with the likes of Albert Collins, Robert Cray, Bonnie Raitt, Taj Mahal, B.B. King, Dr. John, John Hammond, Etta James, Junior Wells and Buddy Guy, and many more music legends… click for more

Click the album cover to listen to song samples from,
purchase a copy of and learn more about Lloyd's live album Have Mercy.