"Red Jones" aka Baltimore Red is an authentic blues singer and guitarist who plays acoustic style 6 and 12 string guitar in the pre World War II Piedmont and Ragtime style. He is also plays Delta style blues including a variety of tunings and bottleneck slide guitar. Red teamed up with Choo Choo Charlie Williams to win the 1991 Baltimore Blues Society talent contest and competed in the National Finals in Memphis and has been performing in the mid-Atlantic area since 1986. They were the only traditional acoustic players among the fourteen finalists (bands) and were noticed as "a breath of fresh air". Recordings: October 1999 - Gutbucket Blues CD a second album of Delta, Piedmont and Ragtime style acoustic blues with harmonicist Choo Choo Charlie Williams. Mixed and mastered by Bill Wolf. January 1995 - Video with Choo Choo on Music Night Out cable TV show produced by Fil Sibley. April 1994 - Rendezvous Ragtime - cassette with Choo Choo of acoustic style blues which also includes Red's rendition of the Perfect High and the insightful Kissin' the Worm. Recorded and mixed by Michael Hamilton. Red grew up in the Portsmouth/Norfolk, Virginia area and started playing the guitar as a child, obtaining instruction books from matchbook cover adds. He started performing professionally in 1964 mostly in the folk music/coffee house circuit and become engrossed in the blues styles of Mississippi John Hurt, Blind Blake and Robert Johnson a few years later. While still in high school he traveled to New York City and met legendary bluesman Mississippi John Hurt and literally learned at the master's feet. A later encounter with Arthur "Big Bill" Crudup would add yet another dimension to Red's playing. Other influences included the recordings of Blind Blake, Robert Johnson and Leadbelly (Huddy Leadbetter). Red performed in Greenwich Village in the late 1960's and traveled and played far and wide around the United States through the mid 1970's but eventually returned to Norfolk. He even lived in Las Vegas for awhile. Although a college graduate, he continued to pursue his music, playing on the folk music circuit including performances at various festivals such as the San Diego and Old Dominion Folk Festivals. His talent, as heir to a grand legacy of traditional blues, was often demonstrated in workshops with such noted performers as Roy Bookbinder, Dave Von Ronk, Paul Geremia, John Hammond, John Jackson and his close friend Sparky Rucker. And when he breaks a string, he'll recite a poem of epic proportions "The Perfect High" as he makes the necessary repairs. Lady love (and heartbreak) finally brought him to the Baltimore area in 1986 where he has been a blues staple performing in Fells Point and other Baltimore clubs and a variety of other venues in the Baltimore/Washington region. Over the years he has opened for John Lee Hooker, James Cotton, Roomful of Blues, Koko Taylor, Johnny Copeland, Richie Havens, Marie Mauldaur, Dave Mason, Mick Taylor and NRBQ among other. He plays solo, with his buddy Choo Choo Charlie on harmonica and with his band the Lost Tribe.

"Red is a player of traditional classic blues and as long as RED JONES is around,
he'll make sure that live blues can be heard on any day of the week."

2542 Murkel Road
Westminister, Maryland 21157
410-876-0484