"Jim Jones is a native Texan who headed west to live in New Mexico in 1991.  He's a two-time finalist in the prestigious Kerrville Folk Festival New Folk songwriter competition and has produced sixteen albums of his own and others' music as well as three award-winning children's character education music videos.  In 2002, he'd finally had enough of the smoky country bar scene and decided to focus on writing, recording and performing his first love...contemporary Western music.

 

Following the 2002 release of his Western/Folk album, "Breakin' Even," he joined forces with co-producer, co-writer Rick Huff to produce a collection of songs representative of the Western perspective...hence the title, "Western Takes."  The title song, "The Western Take," co-written by Jim and Rick, was number one on the PowerSource Music Magazine's Western chart for September 2005 and remained in the top ten the rest of the year.  It was one of the top ten most requested songs for November 2005 as charted by the WMA.  Jim and Rick released the next CD, "The West: Then...Now...Next!" in October 2006.  Two songs from this album, "That's What Cowboys Do" and "These Cowboy Boots," were nominated for the Academy of Western Artists (AWA) Will Rogers Awards Western Song of the Year for 2007.  Two other songs, "Diggin' Billy" and "Long May You Ride," were included in the Classic Heartland Public Radio's Top Ten Western Songs of 2006.  A fifth song, "Livin' Try," was nominated for Best Western Song of 2007 in the New Mexico Music Industry (MIC) Awards.  In September 2007, Jim released a live CD, "Tilting at Windmills" which is receiving significant airplay.

 

 Jim keeps up a busy performance schedule, touring the Southwest and as far east as Arkansas; Branson, Missouri; and Georgia.  In his quiet, steady way, he continues to enhance his reputation as a fine songwriter, singer and multi-instrumentalist.  He appears at many Western festivals including the Tombstone Western Music Festival; the Texas Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Alpine, TX; the National Cowboy Symposium in Lubbock, TX; and the Cowboy Christmas Gathering in Wickenburg, AZ.  He was a featured performer at the Montana Wild West Fest in Helena in both 2005 and 2006 and was also featured at the Cochise Cowboy Poetry and Music Gathering at Sierra Vista, AZ in 2008.  He performs at coffeehouses and house concerts in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Arkansas and California, including great listening venues like the Arizona Folklore Preserve in Sierra Vista, the Solid Grounds Coffeehouse in Albuquerque, and Poor David's Pub in Dallas.

 

 Jim lives in Corrales, NM with his wife, teenage daughter and two dogs.  In 2005 and 2006, his non-profit organization, Values Through Music, Inc., conducted violence prevention projects with middle school students at a low-income school in Albuquerque.  The students wrote songs about the problems AND solutions to the violence in their lives.  The songs were incorporated into two CD/DVD character education programs that are available to students of other schools.  Jim is also working with the Western Music Association (WMA) to develop a Kid's Outreach/Youth Chapter Music Program to help young people get involved in Western music and culture in positive ways.  When not writing, recording or performing music, Jim tries to find as much time as possible for riding horses, fly fishing, skiing and camping.