Doc Blakey / Johnny Jones

Bio:

Doc Blakey stands tall among the younger generation of blues players. His individual brand of Chicago blues, featuring coma inducing shuffles and soul wrenching minor blues, powered by his juke-joint style guitar tone, puts him at the forefront of contemporary blues players. Blakey, a native of rural Tennessee, began playing music at a very young age. The oldest of many children, he learned the basics from his uncle and Blues guitar legend, Theodis Ealey. Family friends also contributed to Doc’s early education. Following Theodis’ advice to concentrate on his guitar playing, Doc relocated to Chicago, and- along with his cousins Ricky and Tony Holt, and close friend, Quentin Sherrill formed the Swamp Dogs, regularly backing visiting blues stars, Later he fronted Doc Blakey and the Memphis Blues Tones before moving to Nashville to begin his solo career. It was in Nashville where Doc meet the man who would change his life as a bluesman. This man was no one other than the legendary Jonny Jones. The story is in their music and their live peformances. Doc and Johnny now travel and play together. The two are inseperable. A BRIEF HISTORY OF JOHNNY JONES: Johnny Jones was born in 1936, and by the early 1950’s was living in the hotbed of urban blues, Chicago. Over the years he would play with both Junior Wells and Freddy King. Jones would move to Nashville, Tennessee in the early 60’s. There he worked as a studio guitarist and formed the band the Imperial Seven. The King Casuals (some references list ‘Kasuals’) were formed in Nashville in the early 60’s. Early members included Jimi Hendrix on guitar and Billy Cox on bass. It’s not clear when Johnny Jones joined the group on guitar and vocals, but there are references to Jones and Hendrix having played together (possibly as the house band on a Nashville TV show). Sometime after 1965 Hendrix and Cox both left the King Casuals. Cox would reunite with Hendrix a few years later in the Band of Gypsies. Hendrix would go on to a brief sojourn with Carl Holmes & The Commanders (in Philadelphia) and then on to Greenwich Village where he would be discovered and spirited off to the UK. In 1968 Brunswick Records signed the King Casuals (now billed as Johnny Jones & the King Casuals). They would record a series of three 45’s for the label between the end of 1968 and the middle of 1969. The first, ‘It’s Gonna Be Good’ b/w ‘Chip Off The Old Block’ is a funky killer. The instrumental ‘It’s Gonna Be Good’ opens with a horn fanfare and a grunt from the band, followed by someone wailing ‘OOBAY OOBAY OOBAY!!!’. There’s a great funky guitar line, a hard back-beat and some wailing Hammond organ. Jones lays down some twangy guitar in the background too. ‘Chip Off The Old Block’ (which Jones would re-record in the 90’s) is more blues-based (but still pretty funky). There are some great Stax-style horns (William Bell probably had something to do with that), and Jones gets to wail on the guitar. The group’s second 45 for Brunswick, ‘Soul Poppin’ b/w ‘Blues for the Brothers’ keeps the momentum going. ‘Soul Poppin’ (another instrumental) is by far the most intense thing the King Casuals ever laid down on vinyl. It opens with Jones’ guitar strumming alone, joined almost immediately by the horn section (with a line that sounds like it was based on ‘Sweet Soul Music’) and the pounding drums. The tune moves a long at a breakneck pace, and Jones gets to take a nice long solo. It’s not hard to imagine it being a huge favorite with the dancers. The flip side, ‘Blues for the Brothers’ is a slow tempo, straight blues instrumental where Jones gets to solo at length. Johnny Jones and the King Casuals third and last 45 for Brunswick is perhaps their best known. Their cover of former King Casuals member Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Purple Haze’ is a Northern Soul fave. It takes the psychedelic classic and bends it out of shape, making it a soul shouter. The singer tends to depart from the lyric sheet, but the band makes up for it in spirit. It makes you wonder what Hendrix thought of it. The flip side, ‘Horsing Around’ is a smooth soul instrumental with a tip of the hat to Cliff Nobles and Co. ** After the King Casuals stint with Brunswick, Jones went on to record a few 45’s for the Peachtree label, and did a short stint in the band of Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland. In the late 90’s, Jones made his first full length LPs for the Black Magic and Northern Blues labels.

Member Since:

January 30, 2009

Members:

All music produced by Theodis Ealey, Doc Blakey, and Dennis Gulley. The Blues Never Hurt so Good features: The Memphis Horns, Johnny Neal from the Allman Brothers Band, Waldo Weathers from the James Brown Band, Theodis Ealey, Danny Darling, Richard Waters, of course, the man himself, Doc Blakey!!!!!!!! ..

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Influences:

Albert King, Theodis Ealey, Willie Hilll, Johnny Jones, Lurrie Bell, Lil Ed and The Blues Imperials and too many others to name.

Sounds Like:

Doc Blakey sounds like Doc Blakey. Thanks Theodis ..

Record Label:

IFGAM Records