By the time he reached 55, Stone Jack Jones had spent a lifetime as a carnie, ballet dancer, lute player and hundreds of other things, trying his luck from Buffalo Creek to Charleston to Boston to New York to Fort Worth to Atlanta to Nashville. Mostly, he made music—even if it was just playing on the street or at a nearly empty open mic. Then in 2003, he met Roger Moutenot, who’d engineered albums for They Might Be Giants and Yo La Tengo. And all of a sudden, something happened. Jones’ third album, Ancestor, is out now via Western Vinyl. He will also be guest editing all week. Read our new feature on him.
Jones: i was transfixed. a tiny plastic radio on a beach towel next to a sleeping girl. the sound of surf and wind and a pulsing beat and a simple rhythmic guitar and something about a crawlin’ kingsnake crawling’ ’til he dies. i could relate. in a world of roses are red, my love, violets are blue, i was not jumping into any music. it was for girls and gagged me. but the kingsnake crawled into my life, into my psyche, and opened a door. this was music. this is where i could go. the kingsnake had called me. suddenly i was possessed. who was this man john lee hooker? how come all music did not sound like this, and was there more of it? i had found a guitar in my dad’s closet, and now i knew what to do with it. and i grew up with plenty of snakes. i was off and running.
