[1] After the break-up of The First Edition in 1976, Jones concentrated on his career as a character actor, where he made many appearances in film and television.

Replacing Levon Helm, who had quit, Jones would accompany Dylan with the other members of what would become The Band, on his world tour of Australia and Europe.

It was during this tour while performing at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester, England, on May 17, 1966, that the audience jeered Dylan for playing the electric guitar during the latter half of the show.

He had landed jobs as an extra, when in 1967 he was approached to be the drummer for a new group called The First Edition, with lead singer Kenny Rogers.

As a character actor, he would make many appearances on television and film, such as being part of the cast of Flo, the short-lived spin-off to the CBS sitcom Alice, his role as a crooked mechanic/sheriff in National Lampoon's Vacation and his role as Chris Farber, the associate of Ham Tyler (Michael Ironside) in the miniseries and weekly television series, V. Jones also played a murdering biker in one episode of 21 Jump Street and was killed off himself by the henchmen of the man he initially had done the killing for.

He appeared as the subway riding biker in a Breath Savers commercial and had a recurring role as Pete Bilker on the ABC sitcom Home Improvement.

From 2011 to 2014, he had a recurring role on the television show Justified, as Rodney "Hot Rod" Dunham, a marijuana distributor who ran a small band of criminals.