Wizz Jones

Raymond Ronald Jones (born 25 April 1939, Thornton Heath, Croydon, Surrey), better-known as Wizz Jones, is an English acoustic guitarist, singer and songwriter. He has been performing since the late 1950s and recording from 1965 to the present. He has worked with many of the notable guitarists of the British folk revival, such as John Renbourn and Bert Jansch.
...Bert Jansch later said, "I think he's the most underrated guitarist ever." In the early 1960s he went busking in Paris, France, and there mixed in an artistic circle that included Rod Stewart, Alex Campbell, Clive Palmer (Incredible String Band) and Ralph McTell. After a couple of years travelling throughout Europe and North Africa he returned to England and married his longtime girlfriend Sandy to raise a family.
(Read more at Wikipedia.)
== Links to Peel ==
 thumb|right|314 pxWizz Jones's first Peel session was on a 1969 "son of Night Ride" show, but Jones had already appeared several times on non-Peel Night Ride programmes, as well as other BBC folk shows like Country Meets Folk, in a duo with banjoist Pete Stanley. They specialised in American bluegrass music, which at the time was unfashionable with the folk fans who listened to Peel's shows, but they split up at the end of 1967. As a solo artist, Jones's style was more in tune with the times, mixing folk and blues influences with newer songs.
Wizz Jones was, as his website describes him, a "musician's musician". He had no commercial success but influenced a number of artists who Peel liked. (In addition to the names listed above, Eric Clapton praised Jones, Rod Stewart much later described how he and Jones had busked together, and even Bruce Springsteen recorded a song by him.) It was natural that Jones would appear on the DJ's Wednesday evening show, which often had sessions by acoustic artists with a folk background. In the same year he recorded another "son of Night Ride" session, as a member of the Famous Jug Band.. Two more Wizz Jones solo sessions followed, in 1970 and 1972, and the DJ included a track by Jones on a 1978 show, by which time folk artists were becoming a less important part of Peel playlists.
Wizz Jones was also interviewed on two episodes of the series Peel narrated on the history of the British folk revival, As I Roved Out: A Century Of Folk Music. In 2019 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Radio Two Folk Awards.
== Festive Fifty Entries ==
*None
== Sessions ==
*Three solo sessions. No known commercial release. Also one session with Famous Jug Band (1969).
1. Recorded 1969-06-12. First broadcast 09 July 1969.
*If Only I'd Known / Time Is Flying / Weeping Willow Blues / O My Friend
2. Recorded 1970-12-21. First broadcast 16 January 1971. Repeated 13 March 1971
*The Legendary Me / Beggerman / Willie Moore / The Time Is Flying / If Only I'd Known (first TX 13 March 1971 repeat)
3. Recorded 1971-12-13. First broadcast 04 January 1972. Repeated 22 February 1972.
*Mama, Let Me Lay It On You / American Jones / First Girl I Loved / No More Time To Try
== Other Shows Played ==
*04 July 1972: Which Of Them You Love The Best (LP – Right Now) CBS
*19 January 1978: City Of The Angels (LP - Happiness Was Free) Intercord
;Other
*As I Roved Out: A Century Of Folk Music: Jones interviewed in second and third programmes in series of six.
== See Also ==
*Cover Versions
== External Links ==
*Wikipedia
*Discogs
*Official site
Category:Artists
Category:Folk