Tail Dragger Jones

Life and career

Jones was born in Altheimer, Arkansas, United States. He was raised by his grandparents after his parents separated when he was a baby, and began hearing blues music as a child. He secretly listened to music on his family's battery powered radio, which caused some consternation when the batteries were too low for his family to listen to gospel music before church each Sunday. During those formative years he saw both Sonny Boy Williamson II and Boyd Gilmore perform at a little club named Jack Rabbitts in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. After relocating to Chicago in 1966, Jones worked as an auto mechanic. He began to perform locally but got lucky when his musical hero, Howlin' Wolf, allowed Jones to sit in during his concerts. This influence, and the raw gritty approach he had admired in the musical stylings of Sonny Boy Williamson, Muddy Waters, and Willie Dixon, made Jones concentrate on a "low-down" style of Chicago blues. Originally he was known as Crawlin' James, a nickname he acquired from his habit of crawling around on stage whilst performing. Later on, Howlin' Wolf named him Tail Dragger because Jones often arrived late for gigs.

By the ealy 1970s, Jones had become a full-time singer and he utilised notable backing musicians including Willie Kent, Hubert Sumlin, Carey Bell, Kansas City Red, Little Mack Simmons, Big Leon Brooks, and Eddie Shaw. On July 11, 1993 in Chicago, Jones shot and killed fellow blues artist Boston Blackie (born Benjamin Joe "Bennie" Houston, November 6, 1943, Panola, Sumter County, Alabama). It followed a heated argument over payment and although Jones cited self-defense, he was convicted of second-degree murder and spent 17 months in prison. Tail Dragger had been a regular performer in Chicago blues clubs throughout the 1970s and 1980s, releasing a number of commercially unsuccessful singles. His spell in prison aside, it took until 1996 before he issued his debut album, Crawlin' Kingsnake, on St. George Records. He was 56 years old when the record was released. That disc was followed by Jones second album, American People (1998, Delmark Records) A DVD titled My Head Is Bald: Live at Vern's Friendly Lounge, was released in 2005. Live at Rooster's Lounge was issued in 2009 also by Delmark Records.

His joint work with Bob Corritore resulted in the 2012 CD and DVD release, Longtime Friends in the Blues.

Family

Jones has been married six times and has a number of children.