Jones was born in
Oskaloosa, Iowa. He received no formal drum lessons but showed a keen interest in music during school, citing
Al Jackson Jr. and
Keith Moon as his favourite drummers. The first song he learned to play was
Walk, Don't Run, which was written by
Johnny Smith and later made famous by
The Ventures. Later, he eventually moved to
L.A and joined a blues style band with the harmonica player
Lee Oskar. In 1969, Jones went on to jamming with some members of the rock band 'Stonehenge' which included
John Weider of
The Animals on guitar. Weider left Stonehenge and joined the English Rock group
Family, leaving Jones and the remaining members to morph into
Crabby Appleton with guitarist and lead vocalist
Michael Fennelly. They went on to gain a Top 40 single entitled: 'Go Back' in 1970. The band went on to open for other well established acts including
ABBA,
The Doors,
Sly and the Family Stone,
The Guess Who and
Jethro Tull, but the second album in 1971 failed to achieve commercial success and they disbanded. Fennelly then moved to England to start a solo career, with Jones staying in L.A. ==Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers==