Christopher Paul Jones was born in Reno, Nevada. At the age of five, he began playing the guitar. A few years later, he decided to become a professional musician and when he was 11 years old, he got admitted to a program at the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore, Maryland. There he discovered the idol of his younger years, Johann Sebastian Bach, to whom he dedicated his Sonata in D. For this sonata, Jones was awarded the conservatory's Young Composer of the Year award. Shortly thereafter, he discovered the blues and started listening to Robert Johnson, James Taylor, and Little Feat. In 1976, Jones joined the U.S. Army and was stationed in Adenine's, Germany. During this time, the foundation for his musical career in Europe was laid. Over the following decades, he played guitar on albums of artists such as Sara K., Allan Taylor, and Reinhard Mey. He toured and recorded solo and with the blues harmonica musician Steve Baker. In August 2005, Jones was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma in an advanced stage. He died on September 13, 2005, in Northeim, Germany. Many friends and other musicians helped him, either personally, or by staging charity concerts to help with his expenses.
Music
Jones' repertoire encompassed various musical styles, among them blues, country, folk, and rock and roll. I suggested deleting the last sentence, as it applies rather to a different guitarist/ artist named Chris Jones, who I believe is primarily plays bluegrass; HE plays Gallagher guitars, which are beautiful American bluegrass guitars. This Wikipedia entry here is about Chris Jones, a childhood and teenage friend of mine back in the late 60s - late 70s in northern MD; he died in Sep 05, so he no longer plays anything. Best I know, he played mostly or exclusively beautiful German hand-made Lakewood acoustic guitars; not sure what make resonator guitar, but he played one frequently. His longtime European collaborator, the amazing harmonica player Steve Baker, might know the most about him, as they totally "whaled" together, a truly amazing mostly blues duo, I believe frequently over the last decade of this Chris's life, ie 95- 05. Or someone else. I lost touch with this Chris Jones in the late 70s, when he enlisted and I went off to college. Todd Fisher
