The fact that he is flying from Los Angeles to Hong Kong next week only goes to prove Deacon Jones' belief that blues fans are all over the world and the numbers are getting bigger.
It has been a realisation that has been growing since the former John Lee Hooker sideman was invited for some performances in Buenos Aires two years ago. Expecting a crowd which would prefer to be dancing to salsa, Jones was in happy shock to find 6,000 exhilarated blues fans up on stage with him.
'It was quite a shock to see so many blues lovers there,' said Jones by telephone from his Los Angeles home. 'Another time I was in Azerbaijan and it was the same thing. I started realising that there were blues fans all over. It's great for the business.' Jones has seen a lot of change in his 33 years of playing the blues. For one, the familiar 'soul brothers' are disappearing. 'There were a lot of original blacks when I started out. You know, people such as Jimmy Reid, Albert King . . . they're all gone now,' he said.
The music has undergone subtle transformation with the infusion of new and younger players. 'Blues music is getting so much hipper,' Jones said. 'It has become music that you can dance to. I think BB King is one of the [old-timers] who is closest to closing the generation gap because he is starting to make blues music that you can dance to as well.' Earlier this year, Jones released Makin' Blues History, a solo album of 12 original compositions. It is his third solo effort although he has worked on numerous albums with other artists, including Godfather of Blues John Lee Hooker's Grammy winner, Chill Out, this year. To promote Makin' Blues History, Jones went on his first solo road tour with his Vortex Blues Band and won rave reviews when they opened for the BB King tour in Canada.
The album was more than three years in the making. 'It felt like 30 though,' said Jones. 'It started out as an idea I had. You go to an outdoor festival and there are several artists performing. As each one goes on to sing, you take the songs and put them in an album.' And so Jones, who does not sing, asked his blues friends if they would do him the honours on 'one or two of his songs' for the album. The result was an impressive line-up: John Lee Hooker, Gregg Allman, Katie Webster, Lydia Pense, Joe Louis Walker, Dr John and Benny Turner, to name a few.
On his next album 'I think I'm going to get either a guy or a guy and a girl to sing the vocals. Looking for all the celebrities takes too much time'.
Jones is a long way from the 19-year-old who blew his way into the music scene more than three decades ago. Calling himself the 'Hammond Organ Man', Jones started playing the trumpet with Chicago rhythm and blues band, Baby Huey and the Babysitters.