Thomas “Jaybird” Jones

Thomas “Jaybird” Jones was a Mississippi barrelhouse piano participant who accompanied singer Keghouse (probably Gordon Keghouse) on 10 sides recorded for Vocalion and OKeh in Memphis, TN, in 1928. He was documented in the springtime of 1941 and once again on July 26, 1942, by folklorist Alan Lomax in Clarksdale, MS, playing some blues and rag parts with an out-of-tune piano while Lomax tries to interview him. The outcome is a remarkable push-and-pull interview with musical embellishments, musically flawed (due to the out-of-tune piano) but historically essential.