Bluesman Deacon Jones
added to 1st Blythe River Blues Festival lineup
BLYTHE - Longtime blues
organist Deacon Jones and his band have been added to the lineup of groups
scheduled for the 1st Blythe River Blues Festival, to be held on May 26,
Memorial Day weekend, at Quechan Park in Blythe. Jones' resume includes 18
years touring with the legendary John Lee Hooker (photo left) and seven years playing with
Freddie King. Jones joins Fran Banish, 7th Sons, Bernie Pearl, the South Main
Street Blues Band and Paul Winer on the festival bill.
Jones was a rock and
roller in the early 1960s, when the hometown Richmond, Ind. band he was in,
Baby Huey and the Babysitters, moved to Chicago and hired Elvin Bishop.
According to Jones, Bishop kept trying to bring blues songs into the band but
was met with resistance. One day Bishop invited Jones to a Chicago blues club
and it turned out to be a day that changed his life forever.
"Elvin said, 'I want
to take you down to this club' and the reason he wanted me to go was because he
knew he would be the only white guy in the club so he wanted to be there with
someone he knew," Jones said. "We were having a beer and I'm getting
madder than hell looking at all these drunks, wondering why he brought me to
watch all these drunks."
The drunks Jones was
referring to turned out to be Muddy Waters, James Cotton and Otis Spann, some
of the greatest blues musicians of all time.
"I had no idea I was
watching a bandstand full of legends - all legends. But in 1964, they didn't
know what they were - then they all became very famous."
As time went on, Jones
and Baby began to have differences over money and women and he soon left the
band. Jones traveled to New York, got in trouble, got out of trouble, and went
back to Chicago with his tail tucked between his legs. He then learned that the
Chicago-based Impressions were looking for a band so he tried out and got the
gig, joining Curtis Mayfield on stage.
It was Mayfield who, back
in 1969, gave Jones the moniker, "Deacon."
"He forgot my real
name, Melvin Jones," Jones said. "I was wearing a tuxedo and we were
opening for Diana Ross when she had first gone solo. While introducing the
band, he turned to me on the organ and he said, 'we have... Deacon Jones. The
audience erupted into laughter and since then they called me Deacon."
In 1969, the Impressions
played the Fillmore West in San Francisco, where they played on a bill with
Carlos Santana, Ike and Tina Turner and others. Unfortunately for Jones, when
Mayfield left the band, so did the jobs.
Fortune though, shined on
Jones when the brother of Freddie King called and said the group needed an
organist.
"I did one set with
Freddie and he looked at me and said, 'you're hired,'" Jones said. "I
have three rules, King said to Jones: Be on time, don't be too high you can't
play, and don't carry anything illegal in my vehicles."
After hearing the rules,
King asked Jones if he drank. Not wanting to lose the job, Jones wasn't sure if
he should say yes or no.
"I said occasionally
and he said what's your preference?" Jones said. "By then the
dressing room was beginning to fill up and I said it don't matter. He said, 'I
better watch Deacon Jones when my bottle's open.'"
Jones stayed with King
until his death, three days after Christmas in 1976. King, at the time, was
about to record an album with songs written by Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton and
Jones.
"I couldn't believe
it," Jones said. "I was just getting ready to make money and then all
my dreams turned to a nightmare over night. He was my friend - and even my
landlord."
Jones wandered around for
a couple of years and then went to club in Dallas with a friend who took him to
see John Lee Hooker, who was on stage with a guitar player, bassist and
drummer.
"At the end of the
night I introduced myself and told him I had played with Freddie King,"
Jones said. "He said, 'I remember Freddie, he used to sweat when he ate.'
I told him I'll play one song with you and if it don't sound right, you won't
have to ask me to leave, I'll just go."
Jones ended up playing
the entire set with Hooker.
"Afterward he said,
'can you travel?' I said my bags are out in the car."
Jones played with Hooker
for 18 years until he had a misunderstanding with his booking agent in 1992
over t-shirt sales.
"I had a
choice," Jones said. "I could have shot his agent and gone to San
Quentin the rest of my life - or leave the Bay Area and move to LA."
Jones said that in 2001,
John Lee Hooker's daughter called and said they wanted him to come back - but
three days later he got a call and was told Hooker had died.
"I cried,"
Jones said. "I was his driver, his security guard, his best friend."
Jones said it's all the
hard luck he's had to endure that makes him a bluesman.
"Why do you think
they call it the blues?" he asked. "I have had some real funky luck.
I know what it feels like to be stabbed in the back, double crossed, to be let
down cause I've been through it. When I tell someone something, that's the way
it is, even if it comes out of my pocket."
The band Jones is
bringing to the Blythe River Blues Festival includes bass player Rick Taub, who
has been with Jones since 1993, drummer Craig McMullen, who has jammed with
King Solomon and Little Milton, and guitarist Lester Lands.
"He plays just like
BB King," Jones said. "He's a church man, which is a good thing to
be."
Barbara Ivy will be
Jones' front singer.
"She brought the
roof down at Universal City when she appeared with BB King," Jones said.
"Not only does she have an authentic, genuine blues voice, she puts a good
show."
Jones said he couldn't
wait to play the 1st Blythe River Blues Festival.
"I'm a
bluesman," he said. "I like festivals, the imagery and you know
everyone there is there to hear the blues. You don't have to worry about
someone coming up and saying, 'do you know blah, blah, blah by Led Zepplin?' We
get on the stage and do our thing. We're going to come out like storm
troopers."
The Blythe River Blues
Festival will be held from 2 p.m. until midnight at the Quechan Marina on the
Colorado River in Blythe.
Tickets are $15 and
available through the Blythe Area Chamber of Commerce (760-922-8166) or online
at blytheriverblues.com. You can also watch the show from your own boat for
just $25 and the price of ticket for everyone in the boat.
Local hotels will offer
discounts to customers who mention the Blythe River Blues Festival when booking
a room. A list of hotels and resorts is provided at the blytheriverblues.com.
There will also be RV parking at the nearby Colorado River Fairgrounds for $10
a night.
Palo Verde Valley Transit
Agency will provide bus service from a fixed route and door-to-door. The local
Silver Route 5 bus will make two trips from K-Mart along Hobsonway picking up
at all eastbound bus stops to Quechan Park at 12:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. for $1.65
per person. Curb-to-Curb service is $5 each way, locally to and from Quechan
Park, and is available from 4 p.m. until midnight by calling 760-922-4900.
There will also be pick
up service at McIntyre Park at 3:30 p.m., 5:30 p.m. and from Mayflower/Hidden
Beaches at 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. to Quechan Park for $5 a person, one way. There
will also be pick up service every hour on the hour from 4 p.m. until 10 p.m.,
from the KOA campground.
