An attorney, cattle runner, and former state senator from Ruston, Louisiana, Bill Jones comes from a long line of Louisiana cowboys. He learned to “cowboy” at an early age by catching wild cows from the woods of Bienville Parish. He spent his college summers in Ohio and Montana raising yearlings, branding cattle, and breaking colts. A love of these experiences led Jones to work cattle in Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, New Mexico, Texas, and back home in Louisiana. “Where most folks take up golf, tennis, or skiing,” he explains, “I just kept riding after cows.” Jones has always had a passion for writing and a fascination with the history and personal accounts of “cowboying” in Louisiana.

William Jones, Jr. was born in Ruston in 1947 and attended Louisiana Tech University on a football scholarship, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in animal science. He worked in the cattle industry for two years and then attended law school at Louisiana State University. After practicing law in Houston for five years, he returned home to start a lumber business with his brother. Jones spent five months during 1999 completing research and interviewing cowboys at the Gray Ranch in Ged, Louisiana. He later served as a Louisiana state senator, representing Jackson, Lincoln, and Ouachita Parishes from 2000 to 2004.