This artist should not be confused with various jazz musicians with the same name. For one thing, this Willie Jones is a female. She cut one self-titled album for the Geffen label in 1990 and then seems to have vanished into the mist, although she might be hiding behind any number of artists with the same moniker. Geffen had hit an oil well with Edie Brickell and was ringing the bell for something similar to sell as well. Jones either had or was granted connections with a Los Angeles clique of studio musicians centered around guitarist Eric Johnson, nudging things in the wanted direction of a female singer with tight, versatile, rocking backup instrumentalists.
While Johnson himself only played on one track on the Jones album, a frequent collaborator of Johnson's named Roscoe Beck produced the venture for Geffen. Danny Harvey is another busy rock & roll producer and player whose discography is one of the few places where the Willie Jones recording seems to have left some scar tissue. Harvey, who would go on to activity in the rockabilly and retro-swing styles, was Jones' musical director in the late '80s and early '90s. ~ Eugene Chadbourne, Rovi
