Lloyd Jones has played twice before
at Pacific City’s Birding and Blues
Festival, drawing sell-out crowds
both times.
Now, by popular request, after a twoyear
absence, he is coming back to smoke
their dance floor once again.
Jones is known for his guitar virtuosity.
Critics have described his voice as “gritty as
a dirt road and smooth as melted butter.” He
has produced four solid-selling blues albums on
which he wrote most of the songs. He is a favorite
at the Portland Waterfront Blues Festival.
Birding and Blues Festival promoters are proud
to feature his quartet on Saturday night, Feb. 23,
from 7:30 to 11:30 p.m. in the Kiawanda Community
Center.
Snacks and libations will be available. Tickets will be free
with the three-day festival pass, $15 by reservation or $20 at the
door.
Lloyd Jones is a consummate guitarist, singer, songwriter,
arranger, performer and bandleader. He was born in Seattle into a
musical family, which moved to Portland soon afterward.
“I remember music was everywhere in our house growing
up,” Jones recalls. “My dad was playing Dixieland jazz records
and trying to teach me to play trumpet when I was only 5 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. 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 into the blues and was the leader of
the popular Portland band, Brown Sugar, in the
early ‘70s.
“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,” Jones explains.
Through the years Jones honed 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.
The Lloyd Jones Struggle started in 1985 as a
vehicle for his songwriting. He made two recordings
for Criminal Records: “The Lloyd Jones Struggle” (1987)
and “Small Potatoes” (1989). They won more than a dozen local
music awards, as well as acclaim from national music publications
such as Down Beat and Guitar Player. In 1993, Jones released
his third album, “Lloyd `Have Mercy' Jones - Live!” on
the Burnside Records label.
In 1995 Lloyd Jones recorded a highly acclaimed album for
the Audio Quest label entitled “Trouble Monkey.”
Jones and his band have become a mainstay on the West
Coast circuit, and have appeared from New Orleans to Canada to
the Caribbean.
It was a typically memorable set at the Santa Cruz Blues Festival
that led to Jones' signing by Blind Pig Records.
Jones describes his soulful and intelligent fusion of funk,
blues, and R&B as "storytelling with a Memphis groove."