The Life and Work of Producer and Music Executive Frank Jones
Frank Jones was among the most important and successful producers for Columbia Records. Among the top-selling artists he worked with at Columbia were Johnny Cash, John Anderson, Marty Robbins, Ray Price, Carl Smith, Lefty Frizzell and Others, to name but a few.
Jones was born in Toronto,Ontario,Canada, on March 4, 1928. Frank began his musical career as a performer, starting his own band when he was fifteen. After that, he worked as a radio broadcaster and talent booker. In the 1950s, Jones joined the Columbia Records subsidiary inCanada where he first served in sales and promotion and later in the artist and repertoire (A&R) talent department.
In 1959, Jones moved to Nashvilleto join Columbia Records, working with their artist and repertoire staff. There he worked under the supervision of legendary producer Don Law. Law was the protégé of record industry pioneer Art Satherley. Don had been instrumental in bringing to Columbiaand its affiliated labels such major pre-World War II talents as Bob Wills and Al Dexter. Popular with most of his acts, Law was, as Price once put it, a producer who “let an artist be an artist.” Many of those 1960sColumbia recordings that sounded so good were the flawless work of the Law and Jones collaboration.
Don and Frank worked with such acts as Johnny Cash, Marty Robbins, Ray Price and Lefty Frizzell. Among the hits they jointly produced were Robbins' “El Paso" (No. 1, 1959) and his third biggest chart hit, "Devil Woman" (No. 1, 1962), Stonewall Jackson's biggest hit, "Waterloo" (No. 1, 1959), Jimmy Dean's biggest hit, "Big Bad John" (No. 1, 1961), Johnny Cash’s third biggest single, “Ring of Fire” (No. 1, 1964), Ray Price’s “Burning Memories” (No. 2,1964) and Little Jimmy Dickens’ biggest single, “May the Bird of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose: (No.1, 1965).
The duo also produced Many of Carl Smith’ studio sessions including his albums, “The Tall Gentlemen” (1963), “There Stands the Glass” (1964) and “Kisses Don’t Lie” (1965). They produced Lefty Frizzell’s “Sad Side of Love” (1965) and dozens of albums for Ray Price including, “She Wears My Ring” (1968), “For the Good Times“ (1970) and “She’s Got to Be a Saint“ (1973).
Frank was the sole producer on Johnny Duncan’s first two Columbia albums, “Johnny One Time” (1968), which generated Duncan’s first chart entry single, “Hard Luck Joe” (1967) and Johnny’s follow-up album, “Back to Back, ”which generated Johnny’s first top-forty single, “Jackson Ain’t a very Big Town,” a duet with June Stearns.
After leaving Columbiain 1973, Jones headed Capitol Records' country division for the next five years. Then he moved on to similar positions with Warner Bros. (1980-83) and Mercury (1983-85). In 1982, Jones and rising star John Anderson joined forces to produce one of the top country hits of the decade, "Swingin” (No. 1, 1983). “Swingin” was Anderson’s only single to gain Gold certification, a milestone documented by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
Jones was a board member of the Country Music Association and served as president and chairman of the Country Music Foundation. In 1993, he was elected to the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame. Frank Jones died on February 3, /2005 at his home inNashville.
Written by: Richard Bell, Country Music Historian: Nashville,Tennessee,USA. Apr., 2011
