If a true bluesman must pay his dues to play the blues then Dennis Jones has paid in full. He was the second lead guitarist in the renowned Zac Harmon Band and can be heard on their premier album Live at Babe & Ricky’s Inn. In 2004 he was in ZHB when they won the prestigious International Blues Challenge as Best Unsigned Band. Since then Dennis has relentlessly pursued his solo career culminating in this blistering mix of well-crafted songs and quality Hendrix-laced blues rock. His vocal bark is as bad as his guitar bite. This disc features selections from all five of Jones’ solo albums. His L.A. based power trio’s rock solid rhythm section consists of Sam Correa on bass and Raymond Johnson on drums. Dennis has come a long way from Zac’s band. He was a side player then and now he’s the star. The sound is crystal clear, full of sonic punch with a thick bottom end. It’s as good as any studio recording. The biggest takeaway is how well these three mesh together in the intimate live setting at Beaver Creek Brewery in the off-the-beaten-track town of Wibaux, Montana. The rapt audience cheers them on with every lick and cleverly twisted phrase. Maybe a deal with the devil was made, or not, but there is ample evidence in his lyrics. Dennis has seen the dark underbelly and has come out the other side with some first hand stories to tell. Bad luck in love seems to be his cover story as in “Blue Over You” or “Stray Bullet” but the truth to be told is when he talks about how there’s plenty of time to rest… “When I Die” and the unabashed anti-drug ode “Kill the Pain”. “Blue Over You” starts the evening off with funky bass and choppy melodic chord phrasing. The leads take center stage. The volume goes up when the solos take shape. Dennis takes the sonic excursions seriously every time so nothing is wasted. “Passion for the Blues” lists the luminaries he paid his dues to such as Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Etta James, Johnny Winter, Stevie Ray Vaughan and others he name checks. The lyrics pay proper homage where homage is due, mostly to the roots while Dennis plays the role of the torchbearer. The well-constructed flights of soaring guitar fancy are well-framed by the sleek arrangements. His signature Stratocaster tone is consistent and his octaves, double-stops and sustained notes are reminiscent of both Stevie Ray and Jimi. In a Crossroads style battle he could give Joe Bonamassa a run for his money. Fluid runs are his weapon and he spreads it all over the music like hot mustard. In fact his song “Hot Sauce” brings in some needed comic relief. “Like it so hot, want to feel some pain.” A nice little song about one of the true unsung heroes of the blues: the culture of bottled heat as opposed to the tired anti-hero “canned heat” of old “Sterno” based drinks. Hot sauce is not toxic but still gives many a blues musician a nice pre-gig or post-gig kick in the pants. Dennis does his own take on the well-worn riff from “Third Stone from the Sun” on this track. It’s a southern take on it using the secondary “Peter Gunn Theme” riff in Freddie King’s “Hide Away”. By copping two blues rock guitar gods in one solo he better have the chops to back it up and he does. He goes for the more familiar on “Super Deluxe” with half-step chords complemented by the straight single note pentatonic scale runs. It could be his hit. The one criticism here is that the penultimate song, “I’m Good”, is good, but too much like the Count Basie / Joe Williams showstopper “Alright , Ok, You Win” lyrics by Mayme Watts and music by the greatly underappreciated Sid Wyche. “No thanks, no way, I’m good” lyric utilizes that song’s popular phrasing to great effect. The albums sequence is well thought out and each tune has its own reason to exist. The vocals are fresh, new and uncommon. It’s a sweet syrupy articulate sound. Dennis Jones has a way of singing the blues where each word is understood and the stories of his blues life are interesting for long enough to get to the meat the matter; his muscular lead playing. If he made a deal with the devil it may be time for the devil to pay up as this album delivers the goods. ” - Steve Gabe

Blues Blast Magazine

Recorded in Beaver Creek Brewery in Wilbaux, Montana, this CD finds Maryland-born, Los Angeles based, bluesman Dennis drawing on his previous five albums for his material, before he signs off with a storming version of the Albert King classic ‘Born Under A Bad Sign’. Dennis has a strong, muscular approach both to his vocals and guitar playing, and his rhythm section of bass player and backing vocalist Sam Correa and drummer Raymond Johnson provides just the kind of backing this music needs – though Jones’ music is in no way one-dimensional. The band eases into the show, and the intensity racks up a little, appropriately enough, when Dennis reaches track three, ‘Passion For The Blues’, and this energetic approach, with some Hendrix-y type of playing, continues up to the jazzily swinging shuffle of ‘Super Deluxe’, the lyrically pointed ‘Enjoy The Ride’ with its touch of funk to its blues and ‘You Don’t Know A Thing About Love’, with Latin touches on a relatively relaxed number. There’s a low-down and dirty tint to the grinding anti-drugs track, ‘Kill The Pain’, ‘Big Black Cat’ is a no-nonsense blues, ‘Devil’s Nightmare’ has a tough sound, and ‘I’m Good’ is another fine shuffle, before Dennis turns his hand to Albert King’s aforementioned classic and mashes it up with Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Voodoo Chile’. “Blues you can rock to” is the strap-line on Dennis’s website and that’s the truth! Norman Darwen” - Norman John Darwen

Flying Shoes Review

Does it sound good if three good friends without egotrips make wonderfully harmonious music together? The Dennis Jones band gives the answer with their current live album "We 3". Guitar, bass, drums and two microphones, that's all the California guys need. Clever arrangements can not miss the pianist in any second. In the accompaniment, Jones proves to be a springy groove expert, as a soloist he unfolds with fuzz pedal in front of the amplifier a trained Hendrix tone, which occasionally falsettierender tilts into higher overtones, and sheer unimaginative melodic ideas, served with exuberant play joke. Bass bassist Sam Correa contributes rock-solid foundations, imaginative solos, and contagious funk grooves, while drummer Raymond Johnson simultaneously grounds the ensemble and drones with explosive objections. In addition, Jones sings unpretentious, but with great tone and a lot of feeling his imaginative, poetic lyrics. Mind you: he sings. Never yells or barks, he does not need that. After the last bars of Albert King's "Born Under A Bad Sign" faded away, one of the few songs that did not come from Jones' pen, you could hear the record of this wonderfully disheveled band playing a second May, because as Dennis puts it: ..Love everywhere is the devil's nightmare. " (Ap)  ” - Ap

— Blues News Germany