As a boy, he had lived for a time in Fort Smith, Arkansas, adjacent to former Indian territory.
Following the divorce of his parents, he graduated from the Fayetteville, Arkansas high school in 1942 and was drafted into the army, where he served in the Pacific Theater.
Following his discharge, Jones attended the University of Arkansas and obtained a bachelor's degree in journalism in 1949.
In addition to his writings, Jones was also a painter in the western genre and a jazz musician.
In an effort to keep his work alive, in November 2010, New American Library reissued Jones's Civil War novel Elkhorn Tavern in trade paperback.