The real name of Jack Owens was L. F. Nelson, born around 1904.  His parents were unstable and he began to live with his maternal grandparents at an early age.  Their name was Owens, while the name of his absentee father was Nelson.  No one appears to know what the "L. F." stood for, but it was not uncommon in that time and place to simply give a male child initials.  In many cases there never would have been a "proper name" given if the young male had not entered the military.  Owens never entered the military, thus he is left with his newly given moniker of "Jack Owens".

Owens grew up in Bentonia, Mississippi which was also the hometown of Skip James.  He played guitar for people in the area and was featured in field recordings by Alan Lomax and others.  Owens farmed and ran a juke joint in his house on the weekends.  He supplied food, music and home made corn liquor to patrons looking to dance the night away.

Each weekend he would clear the front room of his house for dancing and serve barbecue through a whole punched in the wall.  It was good times.  Along with harmonica player Bud Spires Owens made a comfortable enough living.  He didn't play for any major labels, but he was eventually discovered in 1966 by David Evans, one of the "musicologists" roaming the south for field recordings.  Very impressed with Owens Evans made a number of recordings over about a decade.  From there the music went on to several compilation albums during the blues renaissance of the 60s.  In 1971 an entire album of Jack Owens music (along with Bud Spires on harmonica) was released on the Testament lable.  This album was re-released in 1995 on CD.  Possibly due to his relative isolation Owens achieved a unique sound full of complexity.  He was much loved and much missed in his community when he died in 1997 at 92 years of age.