My first experience on the Grand Ole Opry stage was when I was fifteen years old.  I had gone down to the Opry with Mom and Dad, who were both playing that night.  I was in Earl Scruggs dressing room backstage visiting with a friend of mine, Jody Maphis, who was playing drums with Earl, when Earl turned to me and asked me to come out on stage and play with them. He wanted to be able to showcase the different styles of banjo that we played. I played the old clawhammer style and he played the finger roll style. I almost fell over. I couldn’t believe that a world renowned picker like Earl would ask me, who was just a kid to play on stage along side him. I was so excited. I framed the first dollar that I made and I still have it to this day.

A couple years later, I had begun to take guitar lessons from Ed Hyde, who was a staff musician on the Opry. He brought it to my attention that Curtis McPete, who played with the Willis Brothers, was leaving and going with Danny Davis and The Nashville Brass. The Willis Brothers had been doing the Kelloggs Corn Flakes Commercials, with Curtis on banjo. Ed Hyde asked me if I would be interested in taking Curtis’s place in the commercials.

So I immediately talked my way into a cooperative education class in my high school, that would allow me to leave school at 12:30 every day.  I used those sixteen free hours every week to practice my banjo picking.  Sixteen hours per week practice for a minute and a half commercial!

My wife asked me tonight,  “What subject are you not any good at?”  

My reply was, “All of them!”

Everyone in life gets their education in different ways.  Mine just happened to be a lot of fun!

I was very excited to get the opportunity to record a new CD with mom, Ramona Jones, and the many family and friends that we have worked with through the years. Many of whom worked with us at the “Grandpa Jones Family Dinner Theater, in Mountain View, Arkansas. Also, some new friends that mom has performed with over the last few years in Nashville. She is an exceptional old time fiddle player and I am so proud to be able to record with her again.

The CD will have over 20 songs/tunes on it featuring:  Ramona Jones on Fiddle, Mandolin, Vocals

Alisa Jones Wall  on Hammered Duclimer and Vocals, Ron Wall on Autoharp and Vocals, Ruth McClain on Upright Bass and Vocals,  Greg Davis on Rythem Guitar, Banjo and Vocals,  Danny Dozier on Travis Style Guitar,   Larry Sledge on Mandolin and Vocals, Greg Moody on Mandolin, Lead and Rythem Guitar and Vocals, and myself, Mark Jones on Banjo and 5-String Dobro.   

I am always amazed when I play with these guys at the amount of talent that they have.  It is not only easy to work with these guys but also lots of fun since we have worked together for so many years. It is like coming home anytime we are together. We always have lots of catching up to do.  Every year these guys are good enough  to come to Mountain View, Arkansas  to the Grandpa Jones tribute that is held on Labor Day weekend at the Ozark Folk Center in honor of my dad. 

I believe that the new CD will be entitled “Falling Leaves”  after the song that dad wrote. Hopefully we will be able to get it released before too long. Look for it on this site. We will have it here for you as soon as it is available.

Good talking to you. Come back and see me soon!

A Note From Mark:  My first memories of the Grand Ole Opry, was as a child, with my mom and dad, Grandpa and Ramona Jones.  We spent most every Friday and Saturday night at the Ryman Auditorium.  The Ryman Auditorium was an old church, built by Captain Ryman, full of character and history, even before the Grand Ole Opry bagan to have shows there, but nothing to compare with the character that was to come later.  Each entertainer,  in those days was talented and unique in their own special way.  That was back in the day when each song that was played actually sounded different from the one before. The entertainers in those days  performed from their hearts to the hearts of the people. The songs were written to touch the hearts of the common, hard working person.  Not just geared toward a teenage market, fad music, to make a quick sale.  As a good friend of mine, Libby Leverett-Crew, (daughter of Les Leverett, Opry Photographer)  stated in her book,  Saturday Nights with Daddy At The Opry,  I quote:   Even with gum stuck on the underside of the pews, the stench of stale cigarette smoke and buttery popcorn, and the loud, loud music, there was something reverential about the building”.

Most of my childhood memories were centered around that entertainers of that era.  Memories of friends likes Stringbean, who was always giving me popcorn money and not taking any change back. Stringbean was dad’s best friend in those days. I remember one time going with dad and Stringbean to the Opry on an icy night. Estelle, Stringbean’s wife, usually did all the driving for String. She didn’t want to drive that night, because of the bad roads, so dad drove him.  We got out at the Opry on solid ice. String was carrying his costume bag in one hand and his banjo case in the other.  He was bent over from the hips, going across the ice. I asked him why he was walking like that and he answered,  “As tall as I am,  if I fall, it won’t hurt as bad from here.”    

For some reason that logic made a lot of sense to me.  I feel so blessed to have grown up in that era, with the role models that I had.  Check back in for more stories. Thanks for stopping by.