[1] Raised in the church, he developed an interest in music at an early age and learned to play the guitar after his brother bought an old broken one for $3.
[3] By the late 1940s he was capable of playing any kind of music requested and had learned to play the piano, banjo and bass (including a homemade bass fashioned from a washtub, a broom handle and a clothesline),[3] in addition to the guitar.
He was regarded by his contemporaries as the best guitar player on the Chicago scene;[1] the noted slide guitar player Muddy Waters warned Jones not to "fool with that slide" when he sat in with Waters's band one night.
The track "Snooky and Moody's Boogie" is said to have been the inspiration for Little Walter's 1952 hit "Juke".
He sang three numbers on a 1952 session, but these were not released at the time (because, according to Jones, the label's owner, Joe Brown, thought his voice was "too rough").