Song:Dark Road
Album:The Chronological Floyd Jones 1948-1953
Floyd Jones was a Chicago blues pioneer who played with all the greats and wrote some great songs. But he never had the commercial success of guys like Howlin' Wolf or Muddy Waters. Dark Road was probably his most successful song as it was turned into the Canned Heat classic On The Road again. He was born July 21, 1917 in Marianna, AR. Chester "Howlin' Wolf" Burnett gave Jones a guitar and they traveled the south with Walter Horton in the 30s. They all moved to Chicago in the 40s and Jones recorded for Marvel, J.O.B. and Chess from 1948-53. This CD covers those recordings. Dark Road was recorded in 1952 for Chess with Little Walter on harmonica, Jimmy Rogers on guitar and Willie Coven on drums. In 1968, Canned Heat lead singer Alan Wilson turned Dark Road into On The Road Again and he gave Jones a songwriting credit. Both songs are based on the 1928 Tommy Johnson song Big Road Blues. Jones made it moodier than it already was. Some of Jones' other songs like Stockyard Blues were recorded by others. So he was part of the origin of Chicago blues with guys like Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf but Jones didn't record enough to have the same commercial success. Jones continued to play local clubs and he recorded with Eddie Taylor in 1966 for Testament Records. But he never got his due credit and he died on Dec. 19, 1989 at age 72. Here's a video for Dark Road by Floyd Jones.
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