# @downinnadesert on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DdpOi-3kqup
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/70864470-downinnadesert-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/57c9b899e7.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-09-23T21:01:06.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Down In The Desert🌵 (@downinnadesert) — https://gondola.cc/downinnadesert

## Caption

Arizona lost the King of Strings.

Carvin Jones died early Sunday morning, September 20, at 60, after a battle with cancer.

He was born Corvin Keith Anthony Jones in Lufkin, Texas. The blues got to him through his grandfather Jimmie Lee Audry’s B.B. King records, and his grandmother Ester Maud Nealy-Audry bought him his first guitar when he was seven.

He never took a lesson in his life. Taught himself entirely by ear.

He came out to Phoenix as a teenager, and his first job here was working security at a car lot. His longtime friend and business partner Lisa Steen said he would sit on top of a car and play guitar all night. The way he told it, he was playing for chicken wings and Pepsi.

From that, without an agent, he took East Texas blues to 37 countries across three continents. He shared stages with B.B. King, Santana, Jeff Beck, Albert King, Albert Collins, Joe Cocker and the Fabulous Thunderbirds. Guitarist magazine named him one of the top 50 blues guitarists of all time in 2001. Eric Clapton once called him the next up-and-coming blues player.

But the reason people in this Valley loved him had as much to do with what he did off stage. He sponsored and coached youth basketball teams and ran camps. He delivered groceries to elderly residents during the pandemic. He held jam sessions for kids going through cancer treatment.

Bob Corritore, who owns the Rhythm Room, said Jones was beloved in Phoenix and around the world, and that more than anything else, he was just loved.

He had recently rung the bell celebrating beating prostate cancer.

His family said they are deeply grateful to everyone who supported him these last months. A celebration of life will be held in Phoenix, with details to come.

If you ever caught him play, tell us where.

Send us your stories to be featured on the page.

#CarvinJones #PhoenixBlues #KingOfStrings #ArizonaNews #DownInnaDesert

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## Tags

phoenixblues, kingofstrings, downinnadesert, arizonanews, carvinjones

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