Tinman Jones was on the Christian music scene from 1996 through the end of 2004. After almost nine years, over 500 shows in 22 states, three full-length albums, two EPs, two top 10 singles, six top 20s with several other songs receiving airplay, many lives saved and encouraged, and more fun than five guys should be allowed to have, Tinman Jones is another chapter in the history of Christian rock.

It all started in the South Arkansas city of El Dorado. Keith Alexis served as youth pastor at a local church where Don Guthrie and Denton Ashcraft were part of this group. With encouragement from their youth pastor, Don and Denton formed a group called Heaven'z Possee. In 1997, the band begin recording a full-length album titled for the song Hurricane. With the release of Hurricane, and some major shows under their belts, it was apparent that God was going to take these guys far.

As the region opened up beyond what the old Heaven'z Possee had played in the past, the band members felt their name was not a good representation of the band. So the quest turned to changing the identity. After a few months of writing prospective names on a list, it was decided to go with Tinman from The Wizard Of Oz. He wanted a heart, and the band felt like this spoke a lot about who they were and what their pursuit was. Jones was later added to keep from conflicting with an Irish band named "Tinman."

Mark Toombs joined the band and made his debut at the end of 2000. The addition of Mark started an exciting era in the history of Tinman Jones. One of the first orders of business for 2001 was to do what bands are meant to do. Write songs and make records. The project was to include re-releases of the five songs from the EP Evidence with drum tracks re-recorded by Mark Toombs, and some extra flavors added. Six new songs were selected and recording dates set. The album Gravity Youth was born. The single "I Will" topped out at #6 in the nation according to R&R and stayed in the top 10 for 10 weeks.

Capitalizing on the successes of the independent album Gravity Youth and its single "I Will," Tinman Jones partnered with recording label Cross Driven Records for their 2003 nationally-released album entitled Poetic. One of the singles off Poetic, "Party, "became Tinman Jones' second song to crack the top 10 as it reached a peak of #8 on the Christian rock chart.