From Pebbles to Stones

As time passed, it became very clear to everybody that Brian Jones was not your average young Englishman. He hated school and wanted no part of what he saw as a boring, middle-class English life. In his late teens, he abandoned the ideas of school and work, and decided to give himself over fully to music.

In addition to his clarinet, Brian had begun playing the guitar. Not only was he obsessed with jazz, but he had also begun what would become a long relationship with American rhythm and blues (R & B). He spent hours practicing the music of Muddy Waters. Howlin' Wolf, and other American blues masters.

By age twenty, Brian already had a child and live-in girlfriend to support. Times were hard, but he knew what was important to him. He began sitting in and jamming with local R & B musicians, most of whom were blown away by his talent. One of those musicians, Alexis Korner, introduced Brian to a couple of other young musicians. Their names were Michael Jagger and Keith Richards. Though some would argue otherwise, Brian had little idea at the time how intertwined their lives would become.