Houston Jones

Come join Houston Jones at Colony Cafe as they celebrate the release of their sixth CD, “Queen of Yesterday”.

$15 at the door

Houston Jones is a high-octane Americana quintet based out of the San Francisco Bay Area. The band performs a strong, original repertoire that ranges from folk and bluegrass to blues and gospel.

HOUSTON JONES

Travis Jones, lead singer and rhythm guitarist, began performing as a child accompanying his mother on gospel tours in the South. He honed his soulful delivery in his years as a child preacher in holiness churches around his native Shreveport, only to throw down his bible when he saw the Beatles on Ed Sullivan.

Chris Kee, who plays bass, cello, and guitar, has a degree in ethnomusicology from Yale, focusing on the music of Pentecostal churches. Balancing his bookishness with Americana street cred, Kee is a regular conscript with Peter Rowan’s Free Mexican Air Force, a long time cohort of Telecaster wizard Jim Campilongo, and has performed as a hired gun with Jim Lauderdale and Buddy Miller, including a recent appearance at the Kate Wolf festival with Buddy Miller, Emmy Lou Harris, Shawn Colvin, and Patty Griffin.

Glenn Houston (lead guitars) was the original guitarist for and founding member of the Waybacks. Houston, who plays left handed and upside down, was voted 2009 Best Guitarist by the Northern California Bluegrass Society.

Percussionist Peter Tucker, who (along with Kee) was in the original rhythm section of the Waybacks, has deep roots in the Americana world, having performed and recorded with a virtual coffee table book history of American musicians, including, as a partial list, Tim Hardin, Richie Havens, the Beau Brummels, Warren Zevon and Skunk Baxter.

And keyboardist Henry Salvia, a veteran of Detroit’s club scene, has toured internationally with the fabled Johnny Nocturne Band, and performed with Bo Diddley, Rickie Lee Jones and Big Jay McNeeley, to mention a few.

Houston Jones has been a hit at every festival they’ve played, including Walnut Valley, Strawberry, Telluride, Sisters, American River, and recently at the Millpond Festival in Bishop, California. They were voted both “best new discovery” and “best vocalist” at the Strawberry Music Festival.

Summerhill Records