"Jonivan Jones is a musician and performing songwriter with roots in Arkansas and South Texas, blending South Pacific travels, twang, and psychedelic sounds with old folk, blues, and a DIY campfire atmosphere. His style fuses traditional folk, early Western, and Delta blues, creating moments that resonate with audiences through the intersecting framework of genres and common experiences buried within the music. 

At the age of 14, while learning on an old hand-me-down guitar, Jones began to recreate and patch together little bits of songs with the encouragement of family, friends, and musicians. Jones grew up in Arkansas and was frequently taken on camping trips to Mountain View, Arkansas, where he listened to the local folk music. Twice a year, for most of his youth, Jones's family camped in a nearby section of land along the Sylamore Creek, where there was a private gathering that included nighttime fire sessions of some of the most genuine folk music. It was there that he received the privilege and opportunity to witness (and occasionally receive a little mentorship from) the style of a revered songwriter and cowboy singer who performed under the stage name “Lucky Larue.”

Some years later, around 2004, he began writing and recording melodies on an old 4-track tape recorder (purchased for $40 while living/working near New Orleans, LA) and experimenting with songwriting styles and 4-track recording processes.  Two years later (2006), while living and working in Corpus Christi (TX), he started venturing to the Executive Surf Club's Wednesday Open Mic Night and began booking himself around the town and South Texas.

Dropped C# tunings, homemade foot drums, stomp boxes, and an old 1974 Fender Deluxe Reverb amp became some commonly used tools for a few years to come.  Performing live and releasing do-it-yourself songs/music for years after, sometimes as a 3-piece or a 2-piece under the name “animalsound” or “animal+sound,” supplied some lessons and ethics that shaped his approach to being a performer and a songwriter.  

Exploring and connecting to musical locales is a difficult thing, but occasionally a few fellow musicians, songwriters, and performers welcomed a few chances to collaborate on recordings and live shows. After years of splitting shows with friends and musicians in random towns (and once even getting to play at an impromptu SXSW show in 2007 at The Pita Pit on 6th and Congress), he arrived at a junction and opportunity for change. In 2016, while embracing the spirit of the folk and roots music that he grew up with, he began writing and performing original music without a moniker.

With a style that is best characterized by its fusion of genres and ghosts that hitchhike through the music, there is an evolving juxtaposition taking place within the songs, creating a catalog of unique music that is a nod to life’s pact with the wild."

(Excerpt from Carol Roth's review of Jones's album, “Ragged Jangly”)
~‘Before there were genre labels—many of which were artificially created by the music industry for cynical reasons—there was a fertile ground of discovery and experimentation and cross-pollination of European and African and indigenous music. Jones’ feels current and sophisticated in its blend of sounds, but it also in some ways represents a return to that organic, authentic cultural exchange from which American roots music originated.’