The Blues Revue’s online voice BluesWax features a new interview with Lloyd Jones:

“Lloyd Jones has six albums credited to his name and while being a regional favorite for decades, he hasn’t managed to create national attention just yet. But things may change with his latest disc, Doin’ What It Takes, which has all the elements needed for Jones to vault onto the radar screens of DJs, journalists, and festivals. For what it’s worth, Jones’ Doin’ What It Takes will definitely be on my 2012 Top Ten albums. I recently had the opportunity to catch up with Jones just as his latest and very well produced CD was released.

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Bob Putignano for BluesWax: Thanks, but I truly felt you did a really nice job on your new album.

Lloyd Jones: Thank you, man. Everyone had a ball making it; we felt that from when we first started recording the rhythm tracks that they had some fire in them. I’ve worked with the musicians on the album for a longtime, so I wanted to go back and call on my friends who I’ve worked with and it was nothing but fun.

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BW: You’ve been getting a good amount of airplay around the country, so the timing might be right.

LJ: I’m so delighted! It’s such a fun recording that I’m very proud of, there’s been good reaction to it too and I am delighted. It’s your entire fault too!

BW: Why’s it my fault?

LJ: Cause you wrote all those nice things at BluesWax!

BW: Where’d you read that? [More laughs] So you know, I wouldn’t have written what I wrote had I not meant what I said. There aren’t a lot of recent recordings that make the quality effort and have the production value and arrangements like yours. So there you go.

LJ: I’m so glad to hear that. I came up as a drummer and have been working on my groove. I’m more of a drummer than a guitar player, but I got frustrated because for so long it seemed that too many guitar players wanted to sound like their heroes and don’t veer far from that concept. Back in the old days, people like T-Bone Walker and Little Walter were breaking new ground, so I wanted to make a sound that drew from the masters but also focused at having a modern and unique/contemporary new sound. Sometimes DJs tend to put instruments and musicians into boxes. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good shuffle and I enjoy all kinds of music, but I also like to add other flavors of music such as New Orleans music that add to the soul. All of these flavors help to tell the story rhythmically. I feel music needs to be punched up like that to be effective with what a musician is trying to convey. This country has so many different musical styles to call on, and I still get excited about it.

BW: I almost always like it when artists mix various styles into their playing and recordings.

LJ: Yes, I like telling stories too and did a lot of writing for this new CD. I felt kind of bad covering three tunes though, but thought they were important to have on it, like “My Wife Can’t Cook.” My brother still had the forty-five and we listened to it again, I decided to put some slide on it and add some New Orleans sauce which was a lot of fun for me.

BW: I’m sure! Tell me a bit about this record label? I’m not familiar with them.

LJ: They are so wonderful. Reference Recordings. It’s really a classical label that records live audiophile recordings. I didn’t think they’d be interested in what I was doing, but they came back to me and were all excited about it. They want to branch out into other genres of music, they also have another blues artist, Doug MacLeod too, and they are so focused on supporting my efforts. So blues is kind of a new world for them, but they give me all the elbow room I wanted, so it feels like a team. Jan Mancuso came to me and told me they were interested. They wanted it recorded in twenty-four bit, and it came out sounding great.

Read the full interview on www.BluesRevue.com!

Listen to “Bend in the River” on RRradio:

Purchase Doin’ What It Takes from ReferenceRecordings.com Today!