Southpaw Jones' quirky tunes offer an unflinching
critique of 'white' culture.
By: KATHERINE TOLFORD
SPECIAL TO THE TIMES
Southpaw Jones has the "white boy blues."
He's got all the classic symptoms.
He's wasted an entire Saturday, he's spent
six hours playing Nintendo, he's
carelessly left a pound of food on his
plate and he's feared for his life
only because his bungee cord felt strange.
Jones, a 23-year-old singer/songwriter,
will perform a rendition of his song
"White Boys Blues" and a set of his quirky
folk tales tonight at Hallenbeck's
in North Hollywood. Like the offbeat "Blues,"
in which he laments the
blandness of white culture and envies
the passions of other cultures, Jones'
songs are told from an often funny but
no less insightful perspective
accompanied by harmonica and a five-string
guitar.
A native Texan, Jones moved to Los Angeles
last August after a five-year
stint in Nashville, where he received
a degree in mass communications at
David Lipscomb University and an impromptu
education in performing the
coffeehouse circuit.
He's a self-taught musician with the exception
of the piano lessons he
received at his mother's urging when he
was 9 years old. At 16, he received a
six-string guitar that he instinctively
picked up with his left hand. Except
for a never-replaced string, he's been
playing it that way ever since.
"I had to teach myself guitar because no
one would turn their brain upside
down," Jones said.
But Jones considers himself well-schooled
in the basics of harmonies and
melodies courtesy of his religious upbringing.
He and his family regularly
sang a cappella in their church choir.
"I was taught to make music with your heart--that
music should be a
biological thing--it should come from
inside you and not from an instrument,"
Jones said.
Despite that, Jones has added bass, keyboards
and a xylophone to his musical
repertoire. His most recent CD, "One in
the Door, One in the Grave,"
incorporates the flavors of rural life
with sounds of chirping crickets,
passing cars and barking dogs.
"I learned how to use words directly without
too much flowery stuff, without
metaphors and similes, which cloud over
the truth of the matter or make
everything sound polished," said Jones,
who wrote his first song at 14.
Like the songwriters who influenced him--Bruce
Springsteen, Steve Earle,
Woody Guthrie and Todd Snider--he's drawn
to stories about love, loneliness
and isolation and life's twists and tragedies.
In "Slab of Pie," a waiter helplessly consoles
his burdened customers with a
sympathetic ear and a slab of pie. "Freshly
Picked Flower" reflects on the
intensity of a lost love and its ultimate
life-enhancing power. "Soup du
Jour" is about achieving one's 15 minutes
of fame. In "Words & Music," the
most autobiographical of his songs, Jones
holds up his artistic yearnings to
what he feels are society's contradictory
expectations for him.
"His songs get into your head," said Bruce
A. Teitell, Hallenbeck's
entertainment director. "There are no
escape hatches, no doors to get out.
He's a gift. You're not supposed to have
that kind of insight into the human
psyche at 23."
Jones said he just wants to express who
he is in his writing. He thinks of
his perspective as simple and childlike,
which he believes comes from growing
up in a rural environment.
"There's a certain innocence that comes
from being raised in a depressed,
sheltered environment. Things are more
fresh to me. I'm like a wide-eyed kid
released into the adult world. The good
things feel better and the bad things
feel worse."
BE THERE:
Southpaw Jones performs tonight at 9 at
Hallenbeck's, 5510 Cahuenga Blvd.,
North Hollywood. Free. Call (818) 985-5916
or see http://www.southpawjones.com
PHOTO: Southpaw Jones taught himself to
play an upside-down
right-handed guitar at the age of 16.
PHOTOGRAPHER: BRIAN VANDER BRUG / Los
Angeles Times
PHOTO: (B1) LEFT-HANDED BLUES: Southpaw
Jones may only be 23, but
fans say his songs are filled with the
wisdom and biting humor of a man
years older. Tonight, Jones brings his
beat-up five-string guitar to
Hallenbeck's in North Hollywood.
PHOTOGRAPHER: BRIAN VANDER BRUG / Los
Angeles Times
Descriptors: Jones, Southpaw