LOCAL BLUES MAN FINALLY GETS TIME FOR HIS MUSIC.Byline: Greg Botonis Daily News Staff Writer After nearly a half-century of driving a truck from city to city with stopovers only long enough to sit in with whatever band was playing at the local club, 72-year-old J.J. ``Bad Boy'' Jones has retired his ignition keys and is dedicating himself full-time to his music. ``The blues, that's what it's about,'' Jones said. ``I've been waiting my whole life to be able to play all the time and get paid for it. To me the blues are my life, my world and my history. The music - it means everything to me.'' Since retiring, Jones has recorded his second album, ``Ashes in the Wind,'' with words and music written by his wife, Geneva Geneva, canton and city, Switzerland Geneva (jənē`və), Fr. Genève, canton (1990 pop. 373,019), 109 sq mi (282 sq km), SW Switzerland, surrounding the southwest tip of the Lake of Geneva. , and backed by his band, the Bad Boys. Playing venues like the Gas Light, Harvell's, B.B. King's Blues Cafe, the House of Blues House of Blues (HOB) is a chain of music halls and restaurants founded in 1992 by Hard Rock Cafe founder Isaac Tigrett and his friend and investor Dan Aykroyd. It is a home for live music and southern-inspired cuisine, whose clubs celebrate African-American culture, specifically and several others, Jones has earned a reputation as being one of the hottest blues players in the country and, at 72, one of the oldest still working. ``All the great players that I grew up with or knew from when I was a kid are dead now,'' Jones said. ``That's why I chose the name for the album I'm working on now, `The Family Tree is Dying.' It's kind of a tribute to all of them.'' Born and raised in Baton Rouge Baton Rouge (băt`ən r  zh) [Fr.,=red stick], city (1990 pop. 219,531), state capital and seat of East Baton Rouge parish, SE La. , La., Jones, like many blues, country and R&B artists, developed his musical ability singing gospel in church. His interest in music began as a boy; virtually everyone around him listened to blues. ``My mother liked the blues,'' Jones said. ``I grew up with it all around me because I was raised around musicians like B.B. King and Howlin' Wolf Howlin' Wolf, 1910–76, African-American blues singer and composer, b. White Station, Miss., as Chester Arthur Burnett. Exposed to blues performers from childhood, he sang locally and organized his first band in West Memphis, Tenn., in 1948. , all those guys from back in Mississippi and Louisiana. It's hard not to love the blues.'' At 16, Jones took a job driving a truck and would compose songs in his head along the way. He would take runs that gave him more than enough time to deliver whatever he was hauling so he could get there a day or so early. ``I would hit the club that night so I could play and then drop my trailer the next morning and head out for whatever was next,'' Jones said. ``I got to do the two things I loved: playing and driving.'' Sitting in with players like B.B. King, Willie Dixon, Albert Collins This article is about the blues musician. For the English football (soccer) player, see Albert Collins (footballer). Albert Collins (October 1, 1932 – November 24, 1993) was a blues guitarist, singer and musician. , Finis Tasby, Roy Brown There have been a number of notable people named Roy Brown:
``I love all styles, but Stevie (Vaughn) could play like nobody else,'' Jones said. Jones and his band perform from 8 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. every Sunday at the Desert Inn, 44219 Sierra Highway Sierra Highway is a road in Southern California, United States. It runs from Tunnel Station near the north limit of the City of Los Angeles, where it intersects with San Fernando Road and Foothill Boulevard, as well as Interstate 5, and continues north to Mojave, mostly paralleling in Lancaster and on other dates at Louisiana Hots in Palmdale. ``After all these years, the Years, The the seven decades of Eleanor Pargiter’s life. [Br. Lit.: Benét, 1109] See : Time one thing I have learned is that you have to play what you feel,'' Jones said. ``That's what comes out on the album and on stage.'' CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO (Color) J.J. ``Bad Boy'' Jones is considered one of the hottest blues players in the country. At 72, the Lake Los Angeles resident is dedicating himself full-time to his music since retiring from his truck-driving gig. Jeff Goldwater/Daily News |
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