Blues folk artist and musician Lennie Jones, who designed the 2005 and 2008 Telluride Blues & Brews Festival posters, sat down with Ramona Bruland to discuss a wide range of topics. Lennie describes his love for music, his origins and style as an artist, life on the road and his life as a federal ranger as well as his love for Telluride Blues & Brews, which he calls the finest festival in the United States.

What will my Folk Art Blues painting look like? 

More about Lennie...                                              Recently Sold Art                                                      “Testimonials”

  From my very first remembrance, Art and music have always been primary to my personal happiness. Comic books, my Fathers' sketches..... contributed strongly to my fascination with Art. I grew to love the texture of Renoir, the eclectic energy of Picasso, the outsider mind and color of Dali', and frightened by the visions of Bosch. Yet early on it was the primitive Folk cultural aspects of Art I studied on that caught my strongest attention. The patterns painted by hand on the rumps of noble Native American Warriors Steeds, the stories in skillful  cave patterns ; the wonderful and frightening colors on the African and Aboriginal peoples in the remote beautiful wildernesses of my borrowed National Geographic magazines. These were the images that eventually made their way from my eyes to my hands and paper. Real and Earthy images from the soul , heart  and spirit of primitive Folk. Like the music they created. Born of need, pain, joy, desperation and faith. Yes.

   Today I am finally blessed with the time and energy to express the multitude of images that have longtime lived deep within the fabric of my soul. To today merge my lifelong love of primitive American roots music with my untrained hands in color and image is my real life dream come true.