Bill Mallonee, the lyrical and inspirational source behind the Vigilantes of Love, started playing music in Athens in the late 80's. Mallonee learned guitar quickly and the post-punk-pop of the La's, XTC, Elvis Costello, the Clash and Squeeze filled his family house. Great college scene bands that passed through Athens, Georgia during that time were Athen's own R.E.M., the dbs (with the great Chris Stamey and Peter Hosapple), Mitch Easter's 'Let's Active,' the Bongos and Tommy Keane: these were also big influences. Each of those bands proudly wove indebtedness to the first "British Invasion" into their musical flags.

The strange thing was that somehow Mallonee's love for Dylan and Neil Young won out (temporarily shall we say) over these early influences. The terrain viewed from the inside of a van for 10 years and over 10 albums by the Vigilantes of Love seemed to lend itself more to the themes of Americana and alternative country....and so they went with it. Until now.

With VoL behind him, Bill is focusing on the solo artist gig. He's back to being "just a guy in a college band from Athens, GA. That reference point and those elements will always surface in the work. It's the clang and bang of 12-strings, joy without lock or key, unapologetic...and above all...unafraid." He's back to bringing guest artists on the road with him---utility men like Billy Holmes, Kenny Hutson and other strong artists from various regions that put a punch in the show.

Sara Pace has become a Madison music mainstay for her hearttugging Americana.

Milo Jones is a character to watch - and possibly watch out for. What else to say about a guy who poses nude (full frontal) inside his CD and yet whose music is so special? Jones has been described as an amalgam of Chet Baker, Tom Waits, and Dracula... but we like Jones better than Waits. He seems influenced by everyone, but sounds like only himself. What sets Jones apart (from other ?folkies?) is his unstudied oddness, a radiantly weird personality that matches his thoughtful playing and phrasing, as well as his choice of covers (Lee Hazlewood, Dino Valente, Randy Newman, Gainsbourg). We'll need to have our medication adjusted to sort out his magic any better than that, but we recommend him highly." Mike Wolf - Time Out New York

"Witty, endearing, hilarious, and potty-mouthed, Boston alt-folkie (?alt,? as in alternate universe) Jones is a killer guitarist whose flat-pick motorin? right hand leaves guitar geeks drooling while his pleasantly woozy (non-sappy) sentimental songs coyly inebriate like a red-wine-and-Valium buzz. Jones channels legends such as Reinhardt, Cohen, Porter, Veloso?fucking brilliant!" Shawn Bosler - Village Voice

"...Milo Jones, a crooning trickster figure of the first order who exhibits a Cat Power-like ability to absorb any song-writer - Burt Bacharach, Bobby Russell, Iggy Pop - into his own rubber-lipped and impeccably picked acoustic universe." Matthew Duersten - LA Weekly

"No one - and we mean no one - defiles the Great American Songbook with as much skill, poignance, and black-hearted wit as local gin-mill revenant Milo Jones, a cracked and mournful chanteur who plays guitar with astounding dexterity and delicacy, and when combined with his singular croak, his songs are arsenic personified." Carly Carioli - The Boston Phoenix

"Nobody sounds like Milo Jones. He sings ballads so sincerely that he can sell sentimentality without the need to wink. From his unique voice to the rigorous way he arranges and performs his repertoire, he?s one of the most remarkable musicians tackling ?the American songbook?, the classic popular and country songs that span eras and styles." Chris Dahlen ? PitchforkMedia.com, StylusMagazine.com

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