Monroe Jones, Jr.

Monroe Jones, Jr., was born in Skene in 1939 and raised in the Delta. He became known as "Little Monroe," an expert B.B. King stylist, after moving to Chicago, and once bested Robert "Bilbo" Walker so badly in a club performance that Walker was inspired to start learning his own renowned Chuck Berry act in response, by Walker's account. Jones also learned to play slide guitar in the styles of Earl Hooker and Elmore James, and recorded as second guitarist on an album by slide guitar master Johnny Littlejohn in 1968. He returned to Mississippi in 1971 and settled in Cleveland, where he continued to perform locally despite being hampered by health problems. Jones was a mentor to Michael "Dr. Mike" James, who later taught students in the Delta Blues Museum's education program. In 1989 Jones recorded the first of several sessions over a period of years at the Stackhouse Recording Studio in Clarksdale for a projected album on the Rooster Blues label. Jones appeared at the Sunflower River Blues Festival among other events and was profiled in the British magazine Blues & Rhythm. He is pictured on the Chrisman Street marker on the Mississippi Blues Trail in Cleveland.