Zona Jones - Harleys & Horses (2003)

The son of Texas ranchers Gene and Gini Jones, Zona and his sisters were encouraged by their parents to pursue a collidascope of interests while growing up making education the #1 priority. He played football, went to church regularly, and enrolled in Wayco's Baylor University. At that point in time, he had his sites on becoming a football player but his many injuries quieted that idea fairly quickly.
Being raised in Texas where hardcore country music is more than a style.. it's a way of life, Zona and his college buddies put together a band, "Swing West" and began to play around town, They did very well playing in the area hot spots. After passing the bar (the legal one, that is) he ended up in Beaumont, TX. The secretaries in the law office heard about his great voice and urged him to perform at one a famous clubs called "Cutters" and the gals quickly became the first of his many fans. Needless to say, he was also following in the boot heels of some of the top Texas country stars such as Mark Chesnutt, Tracy Byrd and Clay Walker. Zona staged his debut at the nearby Armadillo club on July 30, 1993. Soon they were playing the regional hot spots, "Get Down Brown's", "Phaz II", "Bourbon Street" as well as "Cutter's". After Clay Walker left the Neon Armadillo club, Zona and "Swing West" became the house band.
Within two years of his stage debut, Zona Jones was set to follow his predecessors to Nashville. In 1995 he was signed to a "development deal" by Warner Bro. Records, but after two years of song searches and studio experiments, the label deemed he was "too country" and decided not to add him to the roster. The tale goes on with a lot of interesting twists, all of which led him to work with the famed producer, Byron Gallimore (Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Jo Dee Messina, Phil Vassar and many more). Byron helped Zona to refine his sound during the Warner years. When Zona began work on "Harleys & Horses" in 1999, he recruited the producer to craft its first four tracks.