Mr. Jones & The Previous
“The Wrong Side of Town”

Hole In the Bottom*
Down, Down, Down
The Wrong Side Of Town
I Think They Want Me
To & Fro
Put Him Up*
Some More Time
You Won’t
Fine
Take Off Your Clothes
The Flavor Is Gone*

All songs written by Andras Jones except…
* by Andras Jones & Billy Lincoln

Produced by Billy Lincoln

Andras Jones – Vocals, Guitar & Trumpet
Clay Goldstein – Harmonica
Billy Lincoln – Lead Guitar
John K. Hench – Bass
Michael G. Silvester – Drums

From Andras Jones:

After The Boon broke-up I felt pretty burned. For lots of reasons, not least of which because all the songs I’d been performing in The Boon were pure collaborations with Josh and it just didn’t feel right performing any of them on my own. I decided, going forward, I would only have bands that wouldn’t have to break up if one of the other members left.

At the time, I was hanging around with the band Mary’s Danish. They were part of the scene that included Thelonious Monster and The Red Hot Chili Peppers, and were a little sensation in LA at the time. Their lead guitarist, David King, introduced me to Billy Lincoln, another talented hanger-on in their scene, and we started playing together.

I’d been playing at an open mike in a tiny dive underneath The Coconut Teazer called The 8121 Club (8121 Sunset Blvd). They had a neat little blues scene brewing down there, which is where I met Clay Goldstein. I asked him to play harp on one of my songs, and I think we were both blown away.

Clay was a total character. The best harmonica player I’ve ever met, by far. He had this real east coast swagger. Like Springsteen. Very positive and earthy. He was the mascot for the Baltimore Orioles for two years, including 1983 when they won the World Series, and he had the air of someone who had been to “the show”. Like an old champ. As one cat who used to play shows with us once said of Clay, “He could French kiss a radiator and make it sound like Vivaldi”.

I decided to book a gig for “my band” to play at The 8121 before I actually had a band. I’d already asked Clay and Billy to play with me, and I had a name I liked. I figured that, with 6 weeks and a real gig to get ready for, I could probably build a blue’s band. I REALLY liked the name.

Mr. Jones & The Previous.

At the time, to me, it sounded old and new. Now I don’t know what it sounds like. I guess it sounds like me.

Billy Lincoln invited John Hench to join us, and that worked well. Hench had an easy going attitude and an unpretentious style on bass that supported the modern blues explorations of that first incarnation of the band. Billy was a great producer. His guitar playing was firmly grounded in the So. Cal Eddie Van school, but it was wonderfully devoid of the machismo that afflicts many devotees of this style. Ultimately, he was a rhythm guitarist who was constantly soloing, and his tone? Very clean. He put a lot into the band, in terms of time and energy, but somehow I got the sense he wasn’t really that invested, which I didn’t mind. I think we both had our eye on bigger things. I don’t ever remember us fighting about creative differences (although this may be selective on my part). He supported my vision, and I trusted his choices. The record still sounds pretty good. Some of it sounds great. And we did end up collaborating on three songs that I wouldn’t try playing without him.

We recorded these songs as demos on an old 8-track reel-to-reel in a shed in Billy’s backyard over the course of one week, maybe less. They weren’t intended to be released but since we did an album’s worth, once the band started releasing CD’s, the fans wanted to hear it, and now it really does feel like the first Previous record. Our managers, Rusty Andrews of Electric Landlady Management and Billy James (of Doors & Dylan fame), sent it around as a cassette with a case that simply read: Mr. Jones & The Previous – 10 Songs. (Can you believe we left “The Flavor Is Gone” off the demo?!? What were we thinking?) The response from their label contacts led Rusty to tell me on the phone one day that, “the world isn’t waiting for another blues band”, a line that would make it onto our next record.

Most of these songs vanished from my set within a year or two but the song “The Wrong Side of Town” would become a staple of our live show and I think it still kinda holds up.