With its many leaves and branches, the English folk scene is traceable to a few gnarly yet enduring taproots. Along with the Watersons and Davy Graham, guitarist Wizz Jones is one of them. While virtually unknown in America in this sorry age, Jones was paramount in influencing virtually every acoustic guitarist and folk scenester who came after him in the U.K.
Jones began to play guitar seriously in the mid- to late '50s after being inspired by the literature of the Beat Generation, and American blues and folk recordings such as those of Son House, Blind Blake, Woody Guthrie,...