Andrew "Jr. Boy" Jones launched his professional career at age 16 as a guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist in Freddie King's backing ensemble the Thunderbirds. His first instrument arrived via uncle Adolphus Sneed, a jazz musician, while his listed influences span Freddie King, Cornell Dupree, and Larry Carlton. After years supplying guitar for assorted Dallas-area singers, he stepped forward as a vocalist in the mid-1990s on the JSP Records album I Need Time (1997), which highlights his inventive songwriting, assured guitar work, and commanding vocals.
Membership in Dallas vocalist Bobby Patterson's group the Mustangs began in 1967. Throughout most of the 1970s he continued supporting artists such as Patterson, Johnnie Taylor, and Charlie Robertson. Late in 1987 he relocated to California and entered the Silent Partners with bassist Russell Jackson and drummer Tony Coleman, the last of whom gained prominence in B.B. King's orchestra. Additional recording took place with Bay Area pianist and singer Katie Webster on her Alligator Records album Swamp Boogie Queen, which earned strong critical notice.
An introduction to harmonica player Charlie Musselwhite occurred at a Sonny Rhodes session, after which Musselwhite urged Jones to remain in California and join his band. Guitar duties followed on Musselwhite's three Alligator releases from the late 1980s and early 1990s—Ace of Harps, In My Time, and Signature—along with extensive world touring alongside the harmonica master.
An amicable departure from Musselwhite's group in the mid-1990s returned Jones to Dallas, where he backed local blues singers including R.L. Griffin, Hal Harris & the Lowlifers, and others. Watch What You Say appeared in 1998.
