Yellowdog says ... Bill Abel Paul 'Wine' Jones Marty Christian David Lee Durham Jimmy 'Duck' Holmes Willie King T-Model Ford [Dutch] For more information on Paul 'Wine' Jones visit the Fat Possum site:

Paul 'Wine' Jones the rough-and-tumble bluesman from the Mississippi Delta Mississippi bluesman John Paul Jones was born July 1, 1946 in Flora, Mississippi. He grew up with the music of the Delta and learned to play on his father’s guitar. “It came natural to me; nobody taught me, I was just born to it.”, Jones said. As a teenager he played many parties and juke joints in the region, often together with his father. At first Jones worked on a farm, but later on he earned his living as a professional welder in Belzoni, MS, and was able to purchase his own house, something he was particularly proud of. Only much later in life he became a professional musician. As a youngster he worked with James 'Son' Thomas, harmonica-player Willie Foster and James Givens from Greenwood. In 1995 he played outside of Mississippi for the first time, as part of the Fat Possum's Mississippi Juke Joint Caravan. Paul performed in Europe and Japan by several occasions, but mostly he played for local audiences in the Delta. In 1996 he was nominated for a W.C. Handy Award. His style of playing can be described as a genuine, raw Delta juke joint style. His raw and edgy guitar playing, his rough and gritty voice, his jagged singing, the use of the wah-wah pedal and the distorted guitar sound are clearly away from the blues mainstream and very often not much appreciated by traditional blues lovers. His style is in a way related to the typical monotonous, electrified Mississippi blues of Junior Kimbrough, R.L. Burnside, T-Model Ford and others, but Paul’s blues is absolutely unique. In the liner notes of Jones’ first album the late Robert Palmer called his music “progressive country blues”. Someone else described Jones’ second album as “Hard Rockin' Heavy Metal Mississippi Blues” Anyhow, Paul Jones is the sharp-dressed, wine loving gentleman/musician who plays the real-deal blues. Sorry though that hardly anyone ever heard of him. On October 9, 2005, at the age of only 59 years, Jones died of cancer in a hospital in Jackson, MS. His grave north of Belzoni doesn’t have the slightest reference to his musical career. I was told Paul’s widow is a Jehovah’s Witness and that a ‘celebration’ of his achievements as a bluesman must be regarded as unchristian. For that same reason there was no music on his funeral. What a shame that is .....  Paul Jones and his drummer 'Pickle', Greenwood, MS, May 2005 Jones recorded three albums over a period of ten years and wrote most of the songs. "I don't play like nobody but Paul Jones. I'm just doing my own thing, so why should I play somebody else's songs?" Jones however also reworked some older blues songs like Leadbelly's "Diggin' My Potatoes" into "Diggin' Momma's Tatters", the opening song of his first album. In my opinion his first two albums absolutely belong to the top of the raw unpolished juke joint blues from the Delta. MULE Paul's first recording, produced by Robert Palmer. Palmer is well-known as the author of 'Deep Blues', a musical and cultural history of the blues. On this album Paul Jones is accompanied by Sam Carr on drums and on four songs Big Jack Johnson and Kenny Brown join them. The album is recorded at Jimmy's Auto Care in Oxford, Mississippi on February 19, 1995 Fat Possum Records, 1995. PUCKER UP BUTTERCUP Produced by Matthew Johnson & Bruce Watson. It's just Paul Jones vocals and guitar and Kenneth 'Pickle' Byest on drums. Fat Possum Records, 1999. STOP ARGUING OVER ME Produced by Matthew Smith. Jones is assisted by two guitarists and a drummer. The album was recorded in the winter of 2004 in Detroit, MI, and released posthumous. Fat Possum Records, 2006