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Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
National
Mitch Dudek

James ‘Tail Dragger’ Jones, one of Chicago’s last links to golden age of blues, dies at 82

James ‘Tail Dragger’ Jones (Mary Bohlar Photo)

For decades, as if possessed by slow blues licks, Tail Dragger Jones crawled on all fours among the hightop tables of Chicago blues clubs, his cowboy hat and boots moving in time, belting his gravelly growl into a mic.

He’d stand and sidle through the crowd, smiling, leaning close and singing to women, often his classic “My Head Is Bald.”

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