Jonesin’ going to Iowa Rock ‘N’ Roll Hall of Fame

The Iowa Rock ‘N’ Roll Association will induct them into their Hall of Fame over Labor Day weekend, and former Jonesin drummer/songwriter John Christensen could not be more thrilled.

“After all the years of work, it’s fantastic,” Christensen said.

Jonesin’ originally was formed in 1969 by graduates of Newton Senior High School. Christensen joined later on while still attending high school. The group, which at that time still went by Schlitz-Betty, didn’t change its name until the 1970s amidst fear of legal repercussions from the Schlitz Brewing Company. The group would remain Jonesin’ until they decided to “retire” in 1982.

Even though it has been almost three decades since the band retired, and the group has scattered across the country, they remain friends. They have reunions in Omaha, with the last one being in 2007, and will reunite to play a 25-minute set for the induction ceremony.

Despite never releasing a studio album, they had enough of a following to stay in the music scene for years with their brand of “Blue Ribbon Rock ‘N’ Roll Music.” A lot of those followers came to them from their hometown of Newton.

“Mostly Newton people that loved to watch the band would come down to Osceola because it was about the closest place (to see us),” Christensen said. “Especially when we were living in Omaha. We played Newton occasionally, and people would come to those gigs. How passionate were they? They were really dedicated. We always had enough people to keep us booked in bars. We never had to worry about if we would have a crowd or not.”

Although the group has roots in Newton, a majority of the group moved to Des Moines and then Omaha in the ’70s to set up their base of operations and expand their audience.

“We kinda moved to Omaha because the Des Moines scene in the late ’70s was a lot of glam type of stuff,” said Christensen on why the group had to leave. “You had to have the stretch pants and play the harder stuff. And we were trying to play Clapton and the Allman Brothers, Dave Mason and Little Feet, which wasn’t popular mainstream type of stuff to play. But we were more into the southern rock, and rhythm and blues and Lynyrd Skynrd type of stuff. We weren’t playing disco or Top 40 kind of music, but we still made a living.”