Carvin “King of Strings” Jones dies at 60

Carvin Jones, the Texas-born, Phoenix-based blues guitarist known to audiences worldwide as the "King of Strings," died on September 20 at age 60. His family confirmed in a statement that he passed away early that morning; he had publicly shared a prostate cancer diagnosis in April 2025.

Jones grew up in Lufkin, Texas, where his grandfather's B.B. King records first pulled him toward the blues; his grandmother bought him his first guitar at seven. He later settled in Phoenix and built an international touring career from there, playing in more than 37 countries since his first UK dates in 1997 and sharing bills with B.B. King, Santana, Jeff Beck and Albert King across more than a dozen albums. Eric Clapton once described him as "a young cat out of Phoenix who I think is the next up-and-coming blues player."

Onstage, Jones was known for leaving the microphone behind to solo in the middle of the crowd, turning his shows into something closer to a shared experience than a performance watched from a distance. Off it, he ran Carvin Cares, a community project that delivered groceries to elderly Phoenix residents during the pandemic, and coached youth basketball around the Valley.