I’m gonna buy you a bottle of Easy-Off/And girl you know just what I mean/Fish love underwater/Worms love underground/Let’s make love in a garbage can/And you can’t turn me down, Arkansas-based Billy Jones Bluez sings on his recent release, I’m a Bluesman.

Indeed he is. And it goes without saying that the above, sung on opening track “The Iceman,” is an A-plus proposition, made better by Jones Bluez’ firm and stylized grasp on the art of funk, traditional blues and hip-hop.

The record begins with “The Iceman,” a prime effort in traditional blues, which transitions to the slow hip-hop and funk bass of “I’m Yo’ Freak” to the guitar blistering through an industrial sounding rhythm on “Nothin’ but the Blues.”

The title track has a limber, structured rhythm section with a melty melody that draws a loose line over disgruntled distortion, creating a vibe with Highway 61 roots. A 7-minute mood-setter midway through the record, “I’m a Bluesman” is where Jones Bluez makes a statement as the bass’s redundant roll of thunder and the answering clap of percussion resonate even as the guitar peters out.

“Do Right Baby” channels a sort of Billie Holiday brand of misery and emotiveness, and “Love Nobody Else” has an air of apprehension as the artist sings, She said all I wanted was for you to love me/But you only love yourself/And you’re so wrapped up in your own ego/That you can’t love nobody else.”

By the time the record ends with “You And Me,” Jones Bluez has moved back toward vintage hip-hop with distorted guitars and ’80s-sounding synthesizers, though whatever the genre, the artist’s voice is earnest and palpable, hovering in the air over the music like fading smoke long after the lyrics are sung, and he manages to home in on some of the best from blues torchbearers like Parliament and Jimi Hendrix—and there’s even some Prince in there.

For more information on Billy Jones Bluez, find him on Facebook and Reverbnation.