July 21, 1917 – December 19, 1989
Floyd Jones was born in Marianna, Arkansas. Legend has it that Howlin’ Wolf gave Floyd James his first guitar when he was 16. It only took him a couple of years to start playing at house parties and juke joints. He joined the exodus to Chicago with his cousin Moody Jones in 1945, where they played for tips on Maxwell Street with artists like Little Walter and Jimmy Rogers. It’s reported that Big Bill Broonzy heard him playing “Stockyard Blues” and told him it was a good song and he needed to record it before someone stole it.
He recorded it in 1947 with Moody James on guitar and Snooky Pryor on harp; it one of the very first recordings of electric guitar in the blues. Though known as a singer/songwriter and bass player, he had few other recordings of his own music, one was “Hard Times” recorded with Sonnyland Slim and His Boys (which included Muddy Waters on slide guitar) in 1949. And his 1951 song “On the Road Again” was used to inspire Canned Heat’s song of the same name.
He performed in Chicago for most of his life, though he . He sang and played the bass on the album Old Friends Together for the First Time, along with Honeyboy Edwards, Sunnyland Slim, Big Walter Horton and Kansas City Red in 1981.
Upon his passing in 1989, his step-daughter said, “Everybody that knew him, knew about him,” she said. ”He was just a poor man. The same thing with all the rest of the blues musicians. He has nothin` to show for being so great.”
Happy Birthday, Floyd James! We know you were great!