George Jones - Wikipedia

American country musician (1931–2013) For other people named George Jones, see George Jones (disambiguation).

George Jones
Jones in 1976
Born	George Glenn Jones(1931-09-12)September 12, 1931Saratoga, Texas, U.S.
Died	April 26, 2013(2013-04-26) (aged 81)Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.
Resting place	Woodlawn Memorial Park
Occupations	Singer songwriter musician
Years active	1947–2013
Spouses	Dorothy Bonvillion ​ ​(m. 1950; div. 1951)​ Shirley Ann Corley ​ ​(m. 1954; div. 1968)​ Tammy Wynette ​ ​(m. 1969; div. 1975)​ Nancy Sepulvado ​(m. 1983)​
Children	Four
Musical career
Also known as	King George, Thumper Jones, The Possum, No Show Jones, "The Rolls-Royce of Country Music"
Genres	Country gospel
Instruments	Acoustic guitar vocals
Labels	Starday Mercury United Artists RCA Musicor Epic MCA Nashville Asylum BNA Records Bandit
Website	georgejones.com
Musical artist
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch	United States Marine Corps
Service years	1951–1953
Rank	Private
Awards	National Defense Service Medal

George Glenn Jones (September 12, 1931 – April 26, 2013) was an American country musician, singer, and songwriter. He achieved international fame for a long list of hit records, and is well known for his distinctive voice and phrasing. For the last two decades of his life, Jones is frequently referred to as "the greatest country singer",[1][2] "The Rolls-Royce of Country Music",[3] and had more than 160 chart singles to his name from 1955 until his death in 2013.

Jones served in the United States Marine Corps and was discharged in 1953. In 1959, Jones recorded "White Lightning", written by The Big Bopper, which launched his career as a singer. Years of alcoholism compromised his health and led to his missing many performances, earning him the nickname "No Show Jones".[4] Jones died in 2013, aged 81, from hypoxic respiratory failure.

Life and career

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Early years (1931–1953)

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George Glenn Jones was born on September 12, 1931, in Saratoga, Texas, and was raised with a brother and five sisters in Colmesneil, Texas, in the Big Thicket region of southeast Texas.[5] His father, George Washington Jones, worked in a shipyard and played harmonica and guitar; his mother, Clara (née Patterson), played piano in the Pentecostal Church on Sundays.[6] When Jones was born, his arm was broken when one of the doctors dropped him.[6] He heard country music for the first time when he was seven, when his parents bought a radio. Jones recalled to Billboard in 2006 that he would lie in bed with his parents on Saturday nights listening to the Grand Ole Opry, and would insist that his mother wake him if he fell asleep so that he could hear Roy Acuff or Bill Monroe.

In his autobiography I Lived To Tell It All, Jones recalled that the early death of his sister Ethel worsened his father's drinking problem, which caused him to be physically and emotionally abusive to his wife and children. In his biography George Jones: The Life and Times of a Honky Tonk Legend, Bob Allen recounts how George Washington Jones would return home drunk in the middle of the night with his cronies, wake up his terrified son and demand that he sing for them or face a beating. In a CMT episode of Inside Fame dedicated to Jones's life, country music historian Robert K. Oermann said, "You would think that it would make him not a singer, because it was so abusively thrust on him. But the opposite happened; he became ... someone who had to sing." In the same program, Jones admitted that he remained ambivalent and resentful towards his father until the day he died. He observed in his autobiography, "The Jones family makeup doesn't sit well with liquor ... Daddy was an unusual drinker. He drank to excess, but never while working, and he probably was the hardest working man I've ever known." His father bought him his first guitar at age nine and he learned his first chords and songs at church. Several photographs show a young George busking on the streets of Beaumont.

He left home at 16 and went to Jasper, Texas, where he sang and played on the KTXJ radio station with fellow musician Dalton Henderson. He moved to the KRIC radio station, and during an afternoon show there met his idol, Hank Williams ("I just stared," he later wrote).[6] In the 1989 video documentary Same Ole Me, Jones admitted, "I couldn't think or eat nothin' unless it was Hank Williams, and I couldn't wait for his next record to come out. He had to be, really, the greatest." He married his first wife Dorothy Bonvillion in 1950; they divorced in 1951. He was enlisted in the United States Marines and until his discharge in 1953 was stationed in San Jose, California.[7]

First recordings (1954–1957)

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Jones married Shirley Ann Corley in 1954. His first record, the self-penned "No Money in This Deal", was recorded on January 19, 1954, and released in February on Starday Records. This began Jones's association with producer and mentor H.W. "Pappy" Daily. The song was cut in the living room of Starday Records' co-founder Jack Starnes, who produced it. Around this time Jones also worked at KTRM (now KZZB) in Beaumont. Deejay Gordon Baxter told Nick Tosches that Jones had acquired the nickname "possum" while working there.[8] During his early recording sessions, Daily admonished Jones for attempting to sound too much like his heroes Hank Williams and Lefty Frizzell.[9] In 1996 Jones recalled to NPR that the quality of production at Starday was poor. "It was a terrible sound. We recorded in a small living room of a house on a highway near Beaumont. You could hear the trucks. We had to stop a lot of times because it wasn't soundproof, it was just egg crates nailed on the wall and the big old semi trucks would go by and make a lot of noise and we'd have to start over again." Jones's first hit came with "Why Baby Why" in 1955, and in that year, while touring as a cast member of the Louisiana Hayride, Jones met and played shows with Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash. In 1994, Jones told Nick Tosches that Presley "stayed pretty much with his friends around him in his dressing room".[8] Jones remained a lifelong friend of Johnny Cash, and was invited to sing at the Grand Ole Opry in 1956.

With Presley's explosion in popularity in 1956, pressure was put on Jones to cut some rockabilly sides. He reluctantly agreed, but his heart was not in it and he quickly regretted his decision. He joked later in his autobiography, "When I've encountered those records I've used them for Frisbees." He told Billboard in 2006: "I was desperate. When you're hungry, a poor man with a house full of kids, you're gonna do some things you ordinarily wouldn't do. I said, 'Well, hell, I'll try anything once.' I tried 'Dadgum It How Come It' and 'Rock It', a bunch of shit. I didn't want my name on the rock and roll thing, so I told them to put Thumper Jones on it and if it did something, good, if it didn't, hell, I didn't want to be shamed with it." He unsuccessfully attempted to buy all the masters to keep the cuts from surfacing later, which they did.[10]

Jones moved to Mercury in 1957, teamed up with singer Jeannette Hicks, the first of several duet partners he would have over the years, and had another top-10 single with "Yearning". Starday Records merged with Mercury that year, and Jones was rated highly on the charts with his debut Mercury release, "Don't Stop the Music". Although he was garnering a lot of attention, and his singles were making very respectable showings on the charts, he was still travelling the black-top roads in a 1940s Packard with his name and phone number on the side, playing the "blood bucket" circuit of honky-tonks that dotted the rural countryside.[6]

Commercial breakout (1959–1964)

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In 1959, Jones had his first number one on the Billboard country chart with "White Lightnin'", which was a more authentic rock and roll sound than his half-hearted rockabilly cuts.

Jones had early success as a songwriter. He wrote or co-wrote many of his biggest hits during this period, several of which became standards, such as "Window Up Above" (later a hit for Mickey Gilley in 1975) and "Seasons of My Heart" (a hit for Johnny Cash, and also recorded by Willie Nelson and Jerry Lee Lewis). Jones wrote "Just One More" (also recorded by Cash), "Life To Go" (a top-five hit for Stonewall Jackson in 1959), "You Gotta Be My Baby", and "Don't Stop The Music" on his own, and had a hand in writing "Color of the Blues" (covered by Loretta Lynn and Elvis Costello), "Tender Years", and "Tall, Tall Trees" (co-written with Roger Miller). Jones's most frequent songwriting collaborator was his childhood friend Darrell Edwards.

Jones signed with United Artists in 1962, and immediately scored one of the biggest hits of his career, "She Thinks I Still Care". His voice had grown deeper during this period, and he began cultivating his own singing style. During his stint with UA, Jones recorded albums of Hank Williams and Bob Wills songs, and cut an album of duets with Melba Montgomery, including the hit "We Must Have Been Out of Our Minds". Jones was also gaining a reputation as a hell-raiser. In his Rolling Stone tribute, Merle Haggard recalled:

"I met him at the Blackboard Café in Bakersfield, California, which was the place to go in '61. He was already famous for not showing up or showing up drunk, and he showed up drunk. I was onstage – I think I was singing Marty Robbins' 'Devil Woman' – and he kicked the doors of the office open and said 'Who the fuck is that?' It was one of the greatest compliments of my entire life when George Jones said I was his favorite country singer ... In 1967, I released a ballad called "I Threw Away The Rose" and he was so impressed he actually jumped ship and left his tour, rented a Lear Jet and came to Amarillo, Texas. He told me my low note changed his life. "[11]

Jones was always backed by the Jones Boys on tour. Like Buck Owens's Buckaroos and Merle Haggard's Strangers, Jones worked with many talented musicians, including Dan Schafer,[12] Hank Singer, Brittany Allyn, Sonny Curtis, Kent Goodson, Bobby Birkhead, and Steve Hinson. In the 1980s and 1990s, bass player Ron Gaddis served as the Jones Boys' bandleader and sang harmony with Jones in concert. Lorrie Morgan (who married Gaddis) also toured as a backup singer for Jones in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Johnny Paycheck was the Jones Boys' bass player in the 1960s before going on to his own stardom in the 1970s.[13]

Alcoholism and decline (1964–1979)

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In 1964, Pappy Daily secured a new contract with Musicor records. For the rest of the 1960s, Jones scored only one number one (1967's "Walk Through This World With Me"), but he featured often in the country music charts. Significant hits included "Love Bug" (a nod to Buck Owens and the Bakersfield sound), "Things Have Gone to Pieces", "The Race Is On", "My Favorite Lies", "I'll Share My World with You", "Take Me" (which he co-wrote and later recorded with Tammy Wynette), "A Good Year for the Roses", and "If My Heart Had Windows". Jones's singing style had by now evolved from the full-throated, high lonesome sound of Hank Williams and Roy Acuff on his early Starday records to the more refined, subtle style of Lefty Frizzell. In a 2006 interview with Billboard, Jones acknowledged the fellow Texan's influence on his idiosyncratic phrasing: "I got that from Lefty. He always made five syllables out of one word."

Jones's binge drinking and use of amphetamines on the road caught up to him in 1967, and he had to be admitted into a neurological hospital to seek treatment for his drinking. Jones would go to extreme lengths for a drink if the thirst was on him. A drinking story concerning Jones occurred while he was married to his second wife Shirley Corley. Jones recalled Shirley trying to prevent him from travelling to Beaumont, 8 miles (13 km) away, to buy liquor. She said she hid the keys to all their cars, but she did not hide the keys to the lawn mower. He wrote in his memoir: "There, gleaming in the glow, was that ten-horsepower rotary engine under a seat. A key glistening in the ignition. I imagine the top speed for that old mower was five miles per hour. It might have taken an hour and a half or more for me to get to the liquor store, but get there I did."[14] Years later Jones comically mocked the incident by making a cameo in the video for "All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight" by Hank Williams Jr. He also parodied the episode in the 1993 video for "One More Last Chance" by Vince Gill and in his own music video for the single "Honky Tonk Song" in 1996. Tammy Wynette, in her 1979 autobiography Stand By Your Man, claimed the incident occurred while she was married to Jones. She said she woke at one in the morning to find her husband gone. "I got into the car and drove to the nearest bar 10 miles [16 km] away. When I pulled into the parking lot, there sat our rider-mower right by the entrance. He'd driven that mower right down a main highway... He looked up and saw me and said, ‘Well, fellas, here she is now. My little wife, I told you she'd come after me.’"[15] Jones had become aware of Tammy Wynette because their tours were booked by the same agency and their paths sometimes crossed. Wynette was married to songwriter Don Chapel, who was also the opening act for her shows, and the three became friends. Jones married Wynette in 1969.

They began touring together, and Jones bought out his contract with Musicor so that he could record with Wynette and her producer Billy Sherrill on Epic Records after she had split with longtime producer Pappy Daily. In the early 1970s, Jones and Wynette became known as "Mr. & Mrs. Country Music" and scored several big hits, including "We're Gonna Hold On", "Let's Build A World Together", "Golden Ring" and "Near You". When asked about recording Jones and Wynette, Sherill told Dan Daley in 2002, "We started out trying to record the vocals together, but George drove Tammy crazy with his phrasing. He never, ever did it the same way twice. He could make a five-syllable word out of 'church.' Finally, Tammy said, 'Record George and let me listen to it, and then do my vocal after we get his on tape.' "

In October 1970, shortly after the birth of their only child Tamala Georgette, Jones was straitjacketed and committed to a padded cell at the Watson Clinic in Lakeland, Florida, after a drunken bender. He was kept there for 10 days to detoxify, before being released with a prescription for Librium. Jones managed to stay sober with Wynette for long periods, but as the decade wore on, his drinking and erratic behavior worsened and they divorced in 1976. Jones accepted responsibility for the failure of the marriage, but denied Wynette's allegations in her autobiography that he had beaten her and fired a shotgun at her. Jones and Wynette continued playing shows and drawing crowds after their divorce, as fans began to see their songs mirroring their stormy relationship. In 1980, they recorded the album Together Again and scored a hit with "Two Story House". In the 2019 Ken Burns documentary Country Music, Jones and Wynette were compared to "two wounded animals". Jones also spoke of his hopes for a reconciliation, and would jokingly reference Wynette in some of his songs – during performances of his 1981 hit "If Drinkin' Don't Kill Me (Her Memory Will)" he would sing "Tammy's memory will" – but the recriminations continued. Jones and Wynette appeared to make peace in the 1990s, and recorded a final album, One, and toured together again before Wynette's death in 1998. In 1995, Jones told Country Weekly, "Like the old saying goes, it takes time to heal things and they've been healed quite a while."

Jones's pairing with Billy Sherrill at Epic Records came as a surprise to many; Sherrill and business partner Glenn Sutton are regarded as the defining influences of the countrypolitan sound, a smooth amalgamation of pop and country music that was popular during the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s, a far cry from George's honky-tonk roots. Despite a shaky start, the success that Sherrill had with Jones proved to be his most enduring; although Billboard chart statistics show that Sherrill had his biggest commercial successes with artists such as Wynette and Charlie Rich, with Jones, Sherrill had his longest-lasting association. In Sherrill, Jones found what Andrew Meuller of Uncut described as "the producer capable of creating the epically lachrymose arrangements his voice deserved and his torment demanded...He summoned for Jones the symphonies of sighing strings that almost made the misery of albums like 1974's The Grand Tour and 1976's Alone Again sound better than happiness could possibly feel." In 1974, they scored a number-one hit with the instant classic "The Grand Tour" and followed that with "The Door" ("I've heard the sound of my dear old mother cryin'/and the sound of the train that took me off to war"), another number-one smash. Unlike most singers, who might have been overwhelmed by the string arrangements and background vocalists Sherrill sometimes employed on his records, Jones's voice, with its at times frightening intensity and lucid tone, could stand up to anything. While Jones wrote fewer songs himself – songwriters had been tripping over themselves pitching songs to him for years – he still managed to co-write several, such as "What My Woman Can't Do" (also recorded by Jerry Lee Lewis), "A Drunk Can't Be A Man", the harrowing "I Just Don't Give a Damn" (perhaps the greatest "lost classic" in the entire Jones catalogue), and "These Days (I Barely Get By)", which he had written with Wynette.

In the late 1970s, Jones spiraled out of control. Already drinking constantly, a manager named Shug Baggot introduced him to cocaine before a show because he was too tired to perform. The drug increased Jones' already considerable paranoia. During one drunken binge, he shot at, and very nearly hit, his friend and occasional songwriting partner Earl "Peanutt" Montgomery, who had quit drinking after finding religion. He was often penniless and acknowledged in his autobiography that Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash came to his financial aid during this time. Jones also began missing shows at an alarming rate and lawsuits from promoters started piling up. In 1978, owing Wynette $36,000 in child support and claiming to be $1 million in debt, he filed for bankruptcy. Jones appeared incoherent at times, speaking in quarrelling voices that he would later call "the Duck" and "the Old Man". In his article "The Devil In George Jones", Nick Tosches states:

"By February 1979, he was homeless, deranged, and destitute, living in his car and barely able to digest the junk food on which he subsisted. He weighed under a hundred pounds, and his condition was so bad that it took him more than two years to complete My Very Special Guests, an album on which Willie Nelson, Linda Ronstadt, Elvis Costello, and other famous fans came to his vocal aid and support. Jones entered Hillcrest Psychiatric Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama. Upon his release in January 1980, the first thing he did was pick up a six-pack."[8]

Jones often displayed a sheepish, self-deprecating sense of humor regarding his dire financial standing and bad reputation. In June 1979, he appeared with Waylon Jennings on Ralph Emery's syndicated radio program, and at one point Jennings cracked, "It's lonely at the top." A laughing Jones replied, "It's lonely at the bottom, too! It's real, real lonely, Waylon." Despite his chronic unreliability, Jones was still capable of putting on a captivating live show. On Independence Day, 1976, he appeared at Willie Nelson's Fourth of July Picnic in Gonzales, Texas, in front of 80,000 younger, country-rock oriented fans. A nervous Jones felt out of his comfort zone and nearly bolted from the festival, but went on anyway and wound up stealing the show. The Houston Post wrote, "He was the undisputed star of this year's Willie Nelson picnic...one of the greatest." Penthouse called him "the spirit of country music, plain and simple, its Holy Ghost". The Village Voice added, "As a singer he is as intelligent as they come, and should be considered for a spot in America's all-time top ten." Jones began missing more shows than he made, however, including several highly publicized dates at the Bottom Line club in New York City. Former vice president of CBS Records Rick Blackburn recalls in the 1989 video Same Ole Me that the event had been hyped for weeks, with a lot of top press and cast members from Saturday Night Live planning to attend. "We'd made our plans, travel arrangements, and so forth. George excused himself from my office, left – and we didn't see him for three weeks. He just did not show up." Much like Hank Williams, Jones seemed suspicious of success and furiously despised perceived slights and condescension directed towards the music that he loved so dearly. When he finally played the Bottom Line in 1980, the New York Times called him "the finest, most riveting singer in country music".

Comeback (1980–1990)

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By 1980, George Jones had not achieved a number-one single in six years, leading many critics to doubt his career. However, he surprised the music industry when "He Stopped Loving Her Today" reached number one on the country charts, staying there for 18 weeks. The song, written by Bobby Braddock and Curly Putman, tells the story of a man who continues to love his departed lover until his death. Jones's poignant delivery of the song has made it one of the greatest country songs of all time. Jones's interpretation, buoyed by his delivery of the line "first time I'd seen him smile in years," gives it a mournful, gripping realism. It is consistently voted as one of the greatest country songs of all time, along with "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" by Hank Williams and "Crazy" by Patsy Cline.[16][17] Jones, who personally hated the song and considered it morbid, ultimately gave the song credit for reviving his flagging career, stating, "a four-decade career had been salvaged by a three-minute song".[18] Jones earned the Grammy Award for Best Male Country Vocal Performance in 1980. The Academy of Country Music awarded the song Single of the Year and Song of the Year in 1980. It also became the Country Music Association's Song of the Year in both 1980 and 1981.[19]

The success of "He Stopped Loving Her Today" led CBS Records to renew Jones's recording contract and sparked new interest in the singer. He was the subject of an hour-and-a-quarter-long HBO television special entitled George Jones: With a Little Help from His Friends, which had him performing songs with Waylon Jennings, Elvis Costello, Tanya Tucker, and Tammy Wynette, among others.[20] Jones continued drinking and using cocaine, appearing at various awards shows to accept honors for "He Stopped Loving Her Today" obviously inebriated, like when he performed "I Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool" with Barbara Mandrell at the 1981 Country Music Association Awards. He was involved in several high-speed car chases with police, which were reported on the national news, and one arrest was filmed by a local TV crew; the video, which is widely available online,[21] offers a glimpse into Jones's alter ego when drinking, as he argues with the police officer and lunges at the camera man. Conversely, when sober, Jones was known to be friendly and down to earth, even shy. In a 1994 article on Jones, Nick Tosches remarked that when he first interviewed the singer in April 1976, "One could readily believe the accounts by those who had known him for years: that he had not changed much at all and that he had been impervious to fame and fortune."[8] In an unusually unguarded self-appraisal in 1981, the singer told Mark Rose of The Village Voice, "I don't show a lot of affection. I have probably been a very unliked person among family, like somebody who was heartless. I saved it all for the songs. I didn't know you were supposed to show that love person to person. I guess I always wanted to, but I didn't know how. The only way I could would be to do it in a song." Years later he commented to the Christian Broadcasting Network's Scott Ross about himself, "I think you're mad at yourself, I think that you're sayin' to yourself 'You don't deserve this. You don't deserve those fans. You don't deserve makin' this money.' And you're mad at yourself. And you beat up on yourself by drinkin' and losing friends that won't put up with that...It's just one terrible big mess you make out of your life." In 1982, Jones recorded the album A Taste of Yesterday's Wine with Merle Haggard. Jones, in the wake of his condition, appeared underweight on the album cover, while Rolling Stone claimed that his "dispirited singing doesn’t inspire sympathy; his high, pure whine has started to sound, well, whiny."[22] His run of hits also continued in the early 1980s, with the singer charting "I'm Not Ready Yet", "Same Ole Me" (backed by the Oak Ridge Boys)", "Still Doin' Time", "Tennessee Whiskey", "We Didn't See a Thing" (a duet with Ray Charles), and "I Always Get Lucky with You", which was Jones's last number one in 1984.[23]

In 1981, Jones met Nancy Sepulvado, a 34-year-old divorcée from Mansfield, Louisiana. Sepulvado's positive impact on Jones's life and career cannot be overstated.[24] She eventually cleaned up his finances, kept him away from his drug dealers (who reportedly kidnapped her daughter in retaliation), and managed his career. Jones always gave her complete credit for saving his life. Nancy, who did not drink, explained to Nick Tosches in 1994, "He was drinking but he was fun to be around. It wasn't love at first sight or anything like that. But I saw what a good person he was, deep down, and I couldn't help caring about him." Jones managed to quit cocaine, but went on a drunken rampage in Alabama in fall 1983, and was once again straitjacketed and committed to Hillcrest Psychiatric Hospital suffering from malnutrition and delusions.[8] By that time, though, physically and emotionally exhausted, he really did want to quit drinking. In March 1984 in Birmingham, Alabama – at the age of 52 – Jones performed his first sober show since the early '70s. "All my life it seems like I've been running from something," he told the United Press International in June. "If I knew what it was, maybe I could run in the right direction, but I always seem to end up going the other way." Jones began making up many of the dates he had missed, playing them for free to pay back promoters, and began opening his concerts with "No Show Jones", a song he had written with Glen Martin that poked fun at himself and other country singers. Jones always stressed that he was not proud of the way he treated loved ones and friends over the years, and was ashamed of disappointing his fans when he missed shows, telling Billboard in 2006, "I know it hurt my fans in a way and I've always been sad about that, it really bothered me for a long time."[25]

Mostly sober for the rest of the 1980s, Jones consistently released albums with Sherrill producing, including Shine On, Jones Country, You've Still Got A Place In My Heart, Who's Gonna Fill Their Shoes, Wine Colored Roses (an album Jones would tell Jolene Downs in 2001 was one of his personal favorites), Too Wild Too Long, and One Woman Man. Jones's video for his 1985 hit "Who's Gonna Fill Their Shoes" won the CMA award for Video of the Year (Billy Sherrill makes a cameo as the bus driver).[26]

Later years and death (1990–2013)

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In 1990, Jones released his last proper studio album on Epic, You Oughta Be Here With Me. Although the album featured several stirring performances, including the lead single "Hell Stays Open All Night Long" and the Roger Miller-penned title song, the single did poorly and Jones made the switch to MCA, ending his relationship with Sherrill and what was now Sony Music after 19 years. His first album with MCA, And Along Came Jones, was released in 1991, and backed by MCA's powerful promotion team and producer Kyle Lehning (who had produced a string of hit albums for Randy Travis), the album sold better than his previous one had. However, two singles, "You Couldn't Get The Picture" and "She Loved A Lot In Her Time" (a tribute to Jones's mother Clara), did not crack the top 30 on the charts, as Jones lost favor with country radio, as the format was altered radically during the early 1990s. His last album to have significant radio airplay was 1992's Walls Can Fall, which featured the novelty song "Finally Friday" and "I Don't Need Your Rockin' Chair", a testament to his continued vivaciousness in his sixties. Despite the lack of radio airplay, Jones continued to record and tour throughout the 1990s and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame by Randy Travis in 1992. In 1996, Jones released his autobiography I Lived To Tell It All with Tom Carter, and the irony of his long career was not lost on him, with the singer writing in its preface, "I also know that a lot of my show-business peers are going to be angry after reading this book. So many have worked so hard to maintain their careers. I never took my career seriously, and yet it's flourishing." He also pulled no punches about his disappointment in the direction country music had taken, devoting a full chapter to the changes in the country music scene of the 1990s that had him removed from radio playlists in favor of a younger generation of pop-influenced country stars. (Jones had long been a critic of country pop, and along with Wynette and Jean Shepard, he was one of the major backers of the Association of Country Entertainers, a guild promoting traditional country sounds that was founded in 1974; Jones's divorce from Wynette was a factor in the association's collapse.) Despite his absence from the country charts during this time, latter-day country superstars such as Garth Brooks, Randy Travis, Alan Jackson, and many others often paid tribute to Jones, while expressing their love and respect for his legacy as a true country legend who paved the way for their own success. On February 17, 1998, The Nashville Network premiered a group of television specials called The George Jones Show, with Jones as host.[6] The program featured informal chats with Jones holding court with country's biggest stars old and new, and of course, music. Guests included Loretta Lynn, Trace Adkins, Johnny Paycheck, Lorrie Morgan, Merle Haggard, Billy Ray Cyrus, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Charley Pride, Bobby Bare, Patty Loveless, and Waylon Jennings, among others.

While Jones remained committed to "pure country", he worked with the top producers and musicians of the day and the quality of his work remained high. Some of his significant performances include "I Must Have Done Something Bad", "Wild Irish Rose", "Billy B. Bad" (a sarcastic jab at country music establishment trendsetters), "A Thousand Times A Day", "When The Last Curtain Falls", and the novelty "High-Tech Redneck". Jones's most popular song in his later years was "Choices", the first single from his 1999 studio album Cold Hard Truth. A video was also made for the song, and Jones won another Grammy for Best Male Country Vocal Performance. The song was at the center of controversy when the Country Music Association invited Jones to perform it on the awards show, but required that he perform an abridged version. Jones refused and did not attend the show. Alan Jackson was disappointed with the association's decision, and halfway through his own performance during the show, he signaled to his band and played part of Jones's song in protest.

On March 6, 1999, Jones was involved in an accident when he crashed his sport utility vehicle near his home. He was taken to the Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), where he was released two weeks later.[27] In May of that year, Jones pleaded guilty to drunk-driving charges related to the accident.[28] (In his memoir published three years earlier, Jones admitted that he sometimes had a glass of wine before dinner and that he still drank beer occasionally, but insisted, "I don't squirm in my seat, fighting the urge for another drink" and speculated, "perhaps I'm not a true alcoholic in the modern sense of the word. Perhaps I was always just an old fashioned drunk.") The crash was a significant turning point, as he explained to Billboard in 2006: "when I had that wreck, I made up my mind, it put the fear of God in me. No more smoking, no more drinking. I didn't have to have no help, I made up my mind to quit. I don't crave it." After the accident, Jones went on to release The Gospel Collection in 2003, for which Billy Sherrill came out of retirement to produce.[28] He appeared at a televised Johnny Cash Memorial Concert in Jonesboro, Arkansas, in 2003, singing "Big River" with Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson. In 2008, Jones received the Kennedy Center Honor along with Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey of The Who, Barbra Streisand, Morgan Freeman, and Twyla Tharp. President George W. Bush disclosed that he had many of Jones's songs on his iPod. Jones also served as judge in 2008 for the 8th annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists' careers.[29] An album titled Hits I Missed and One I Didn't, in which he covered hits he had passed on, as well as a remake of his own "He Stopped Loving Her Today", would be released as his final studio album.[30] In 2012, Jones received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement award.[31]

On March 29, 2012, Jones was taken to the hospital with an upper respiratory infection.[32] Months later, on May 21, Jones was hospitalized again for his infection[33] and was released five days later.[34] On August 14, 2012, Jones announced his farewell tour, the Grand Tour, with scheduled stops at 60 cities.[35] His final concert was held in Knoxville at the Knoxville Civic Coliseum on April 6, 2013.

Jones was scheduled to perform his final concert at the Bridgestone Arena on November 22, 2013.[36] However, on April 18, 2013, Jones was taken to VUMC for a slight fever and irregular blood pressure. His concerts in Alabama and Salem were postponed as a result.[37] Following six days in intensive care at VUMC, Jones died on April 26, 2013, at age 81.[38][39] Former First Lady Laura Bush was among those eulogizing Jones at his funeral on May 2, 2013. Other speakers were Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, news personality Bob Schieffer, and country singers Barbara Mandrell and Kenny Chesney. Alan Jackson, Kid Rock, Ronnie Milsap, Randy Travis, Vince Gill, Patty Loveless, Travis Tritt, the Oak Ridge Boys, Charlie Daniels, Wynonna, and Brad Paisley provided musical tributes.[40] The service was broadcast live on CMT, GAC, RFD-TV, The Nashville Network and FamilyNet as well as Nashville stations. SiriusXM and WSM 650 AM, home of the Grand Ole Opry, broadcast the event on the radio. The family requested that contributions be made to the Grand Ole Opry Trust Fund or to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.[41]

Jones was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Nashville. His death made headlines all over the world; many country stations (as well as a few of other formats, such as oldies/classic hits) abandoned or modified their playlists and played his songs throughout the day.[citation needed]

Artistry

[edit]

Billboard wrote: "His baritone evoked yearning, hard living and heartache in tales that echoed country music's deepest traditions."[42]

Legacy

[edit] Further information: List of awards received by George Jones

Jones tirelessly defended the integrity of country music, telling Billboard in 2006, "It's never been for love of money. I thank God for it because it makes me a living. But I sing because I love it, not because of the dollar signs."[43] Jones also went out of his way to promote younger country singers that he felt were as passionate about the music as he was. "Everybody knows he's a great singer," Alan Jackson stated in 1995, "but what I like most about George is that when you meet him, he is like some old guy that works down at the gas station...even though he's a legend!"[This quote needs a citation]

Shortly after Jones's death, Andrew Mueller wrote about his influence in Uncut, "He was one of the finest interpretive singers who ever lifted a microphone...There cannot be a single country songwriter of the last 50-odd years who has not wondered what it might be like to hear their words sung by that voice."[44] In an article for The Texas Monthly in 1994, Nick Tosches eloquently described the singer's vocal style: "While he and his idol, Hank Williams, have both affected generations with a plaintive veracity of voice that has set them apart, Jones has an additional gift—a voice of exceptional range, natural elegance, and lucent tone. Gliding toward high tenor, plunging toward deep bass, the magisterial portamento of his onward-coursing baritone emits white-hot sparks and torrents of blue, investing his poison love songs with a tragic gravity and inflaming his celebrations of the honky-tonk ethos with the hellfire of abandon."[8] In an essay printed in The New Republic, David Hajdu writes:

"Jones had a handsome and strange voice. His singing was always partly about the appeal of the tones he produced, regardless of the meaning of the words. In this sense, Jones had something in common with singers of formal music and opera, though his means of vocal production were radically different from theirs. He sang from the back of his throat, rather than from deep in his diaphragm. He tightened his larynx to squeeze sound out. He clenched his jaw, instead of wriggling it free. He forced wind through his teeth, and the notes sounded weirdly beautiful."[45]

David Cantwell recalled in 2013, "His approach to singing, he told me once, was to call up those memories and feelings of his own that most closely corresponded to those being felt by the character in whatever song he was performing. He was a kind of singing method actor, creating an illusion of the real."[46] In the liner notes to Essential George Jones: The Spirit of Country Rich Kienzle states, "Jones sings of people and stories that are achingly human. He can turn a ballad into a catharsis by wringing every possible emotion from it, making it a primal, strangled cry of anguish". In 1994, country music historian Colin Escott pronounced, "Contemporary country music is virtually founded on reverence for George Jones. Walk through a room of country singers and conduct a quick poll, George nearly always tops it."[This quote needs a citation] Waylon Jennings expressed a similar opinion in his song "It's Alright": "If we all could sound like we wanted to, we'd all sound like George Jones."[47] In the wake of Jones's death, Merle Haggard pronounced in Rolling Stone, "His voice was like a Stradivarius violin: one of the greatest instruments ever made."[48] Emmylou Harris wrote, "When you hear George Jones sing, you are hearing a man who takes a song and makes it a work of art—always,"[8] a quote that appeared on the sleeve of Jones's 1976 album The Battle.

Several country music stars praised Jones in the documentary Same Ole Me. Randy Travis said, "It sounds like he's lived every minute of every word that he sings and there's very few people who can do that."[This quote needs a citation] Tom T. Hall said, "It was always Jones who got the message across just right."[This quote needs a citation] Roy Acuff said, "I'd give anything if I could sing like George Jones."[This quote needs a citation] In the same film, producer Billy Sherrill states, "All I did was change the instrumentation around him. I don't think he's changed at all."[This quote needs a citation]

In 2023, Rolling Stone ranked Jones at No. 24 on their list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time.[49]

Jones was the subject of the second season of the podcast Cocaine and Rhinestones, which contends Jones is the greatest country music singer ever.[50][51]

Duets

[edit]

Jones released many duets over the course of his career. While his songs with Tammy Wynette are his best known, Jones claimed in his autobiography that he felt his duets with Melba Montgomery were his best. Jones also recorded duet albums with Gene Pitney and his former bass player Johnny Paycheck. Jones also recorded the duet albums My Very Special Guests (1979), A Taste of Yesterday's Wine with Merle Haggard (1982), Ladies Choice (1984), Friends In High Places (1991), The Bradley Barn Sessions (1994), God's Country: George Jones And Friends (2006), a second album with Merle Haggard called Kickin' Out The Footlights...Again (2006), and Burn Your Playhouse Down (2008).

Discography

[edit] Further information: George Jones albums discography, George Jones singles discography, and George Jones and Tammy Wynette discography

Number-one country hits

[edit]

1. "White Lightning" (1959)
2. "Tender Years" (1961)
3. "She Thinks I Still Care" (1962)
4. "Walk Through This World with Me" (1967)
5. "We're Gonna Hold On" (with Tammy Wynette) (1973)
6. "The Grand Tour" (1974)
7. "The Door" (1975)
8. "Golden Ring" (with Tammy Wynette) (1976)
9. "Near You" (with Tammy Wynette) (1977)
10. "He Stopped Loving Her Today" (1980)
11. "Still Doin' Time" (1981)
12. "Yesterday's Wine" (with Merle Haggard) (1982)
13. "I Always Get Lucky with You" (1983)

See also

[edit]

• Academy of Country Music
• Country Music Association
• Inductees of the Country Music Hall of Fame (1992 inductee)
• List of best-selling music artists
• List of country musicians

References

[edit]

1. ^ "About George Jones". Country Music Television. Archived from the original on February 18, 2015. Retrieved October 9, 2012.
2. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "George Jones Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved April 10, 2012.
3. ^ Yorke, Jeffrey (July 30, 1984). "Jammed Jamboree". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 25, 2022.
4. ^ Gallagher, Pat (December 18, 2009). "George Jones Makes Peace With His Nicknames". The Boot. Retrieved December 20, 2019.
5. ^ Jones & Carter 1996, p. 16.
6. ^ a b c d e Skinker, Chris (February 17, 1998). "George Jones". Country Music Television. Archived from the original on November 10, 2013. Retrieved May 15, 2013.
7. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas (2003). All Music Guide to Country (2nd ed.). San Francisco: Backbeat. p. 387. ISBN 0-87930-760-9.
8. ^ a b c d e f g Tosches, Nick (July 1994). "The Devil in George Jones". Texas Monthly. Retrieved October 16, 2024.
9. ^ Blackmon, Odie (January 11, 2017). "George Jones: The Songwriter". American Songwriter. Retrieved October 17, 2024.
10. ^ Waddell, Ray (April 26, 2013). "George Jones: The Billboard Interview (2006)". Billboard. Retrieved December 20, 2019.
11. ^ Haggard, Merle (May 6, 2013). "Merle Haggard Remembers George Jones". Rolling Stone. Retrieved February 5, 2017.
12. ^ Ashley, Tim. "Dan Schafer Artist performances". Tripod. Retrieved February 5, 2012.
13. ^ "Bio". thejohnnypaycheck.com. HorseBite Entertainment LLC. Retrieved May 15, 2025.
14. ^ Jones & Carter 1996, pp. 112–113.
15. ^ Wynette, Tammy; Dew, Joan (1979). Stand By Your Man. New York: Simon & Schuster. p. 200.
16. ^ Powell, Mike (June 1, 2014). "100 Greatest Country Songs of All Time: 4. George Jones, 'He Stopped Loving Her Today' (1980)". Rolling Stone. Retrieved December 20, 2019.
17. ^ "Top Ten Best Country Songs of All Time: 1. He Stopped Loving Her Today – George Jones". The Top Tens. Retrieved December 20, 2019.
18. ^ Jones & Carter 1996, p. 253.
19. ^ Lenehan Vaughn, Grace (November 4, 2021). "Every CMA Song of the Year Winner, From 1967 to Today". wideopencountry.com. WOMG. Retrieved June 20, 2025.
20. ^ "GEORGE JONES: WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM HIS FRIENDS (TV)". paleycenter.org. The Paley Center for Media. Retrieved June 19, 2025.
21. ^ Drunk Country Singer George "The Possum" Jones arrest, December 6, 2022, retrieved January 4, 2023
22. ^ Shewey, Don (March 3, 1983). "A Taste Of Yesterday's Wine". rollingstone.com. Rolling Stone, LLC. Retrieved May 15, 2025.
23. ^ Dauphin, Chuck. "George Jones' 20 Biggest Billboard Hits". billboard.com. Billboard Media, LLC. Retrieved May 17, 2025.
24. ^ Schmitt, Brad. "Nancy Jones: God sent me to save George Jones". The Tennessean. Retrieved January 4, 2023.
25. ^ Waddell, Ray. "George Jones: The Billboard Interview (2006)". billboard.com. Billboard Media, LLC. Retrieved May 17, 2025.
26. ^ Staff, The Boot StaffThe Boot (March 4, 2024). "41 Years Ago: George Jones Marries Nancy Sepulvado". The Boot. Retrieved August 22, 2024.
27. ^ Ryan, Joal (March 19, 1999). "George Jones Cheats Death". E! Online. Retrieved May 16, 2013.
28. ^ a b Mellen, Kim (October 22, 1999). "No-Show Jones". The Austin Chronicle. Retrieved May 16, 2013.
29. ^ "Past Judges". Independent Music Awards. Archived from the original on July 13, 2011. Retrieved October 9, 2012.
30. ^ "News". George Jones. Archived from the original on April 25, 2013. Retrieved April 28, 2013.
31. ^ Haggard, Merle (February 2, 2012). "Lifetime Achievement Award: George Jones". Grammy.com. Archived from the original on February 11, 2012. Retrieved October 9, 2012.
32. ^ "George Jones Hospitalized with Upper Respiratory Infection". Webster & Associates. March 29, 2012. Archived from the original on October 2, 2013. Retrieved May 16, 2013.
33. ^ "George Jones Admitted into Nashville Hospital". Webster & Associates. May 21, 2012. Archived from the original on October 2, 2013. Retrieved May 16, 2013.
34. ^ "George Jones Released from Hospital". Webster & Associates. May 26, 2012. Archived from the original on October 2, 2013. Retrieved May 16, 2012.
35. ^ "George Jones Announces the Grand Tour in 2013". Webster & Associates. August 14, 2012. Archived from the original on October 2, 2013. Retrieved May 16, 2013.
36. ^ "Country Music Icon George Jones Announces Final Nashville Concert of Career". Webster & Associates. November 12, 2012. Archived from the original on October 2, 2013. Retrieved May 16, 2013.
37. ^ Grossberg, Josh (April 19, 2013). "George Jones Hospitalized in Nashville". E! Online. Retrieved May 16, 2013.
38. ^ Italie, Hillel; Talbott, Chris (April 26, 2013). "Country music superstar George Jones dead at 81". CTV News. Retrieved April 28, 2013.
39. ^ Scutti, Susan (April 26, 2013). "George Jones Died Today Of Hypoxic Respiratory Failure At Age 81". Medical Daily. Archived from the original on May 5, 2013. Retrieved May 16, 2013.
40. ^ Hudak, Joseph (April 30, 2013). "Laura Bush to Eulogize George Jones". Country Weekly. Archived from the original on December 3, 2013. Retrieved December 20, 2019.
41. ^ Danton, Eric R. (April 29, 2013). "George Jones' Funeral Will Be Open to the Public". Rolling Stone. Retrieved December 20, 2019.
42. ^ Atkinson, Katie; Brooks, Dave; Brown, Eric Renner; Dailey, Hannah; Denis, Kyle; Duffy, Thom; Price, Deborah Evans; Graff, Gary; Grein, Paul; Havens, Lyndsey; Johnston, Rylee; Knopper, Steve; Levine, Rob; Lynch, Joe; Mims, Taylor; Newman, Melinda; Nicholson, Jessica; Roland, Tom; Werthman, Christine (November 19, 2024). "100 Greatest Country Artists of All Time: The Full Staff List". Billboard. Retrieved June 4, 2025.
43. ^ Waddell, Ray (April 26, 2013). "George Jones: The Billboard Interview (2006)". Billboard. Retrieved October 4, 2013.
44. ^ Mueller, Andrew (July 2013). "George Jones: 1931-2013 – "He could make you cry with his voice..."". Rock's Back Pages. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
45. ^ Hajdu, David (June 3, 2013). "Why George Jones Ranks with Frank Sinatra and Billie Holiday". The New Republic. Retrieved October 9, 2023.
46. ^ Cantwell, David (April 26, 2013). "The True Genius of George Jones". Slate. Retrieved October 10, 2023.
47. ^ Ryan, Aaron (July 9, 2023). "Waylon Jennings Recalls Hog-Tying A Drunk & Out Of Control George Jones". Whiskey Riff. Retrieved October 11, 2023.
48. ^ Haggard, Merle (May 6, 2013). "Merle Haggard Remembers George Jones". Rolling Stone. Retrieved October 12, 2023.
49. ^ "The 200 Greatest Singers of All Time". Rolling Stone. January 1, 2023. Retrieved October 3, 2023.
50. ^ "The Keeper of Country Music's Tall Tales and Secret Histories". April 8, 2021.
51. ^ "Cocaine & Rhinestones' host is finally launching its second podcast season". The Washington Post. September 2021.

Works cited

[edit]

• Jones, George; Carter, Tom (1996). I Lived to Tell it All. Villard. ISBN 978-0-679-43869-4.

Further reading

[edit]

• Dawidoff, Nicholas (1998). In the Country of Country: A Journey to the Roots of American Music. Vintage Books. ISBN 0-375-70082-X..
• Malone, Bill C. (1985). Country Music USA. University of Texas Press. ISBN 0-292-71096-8..
• Joel Whitburn's Top Country Songs, 1944 to 2005, Record Research, Menomonee Falls, WI, 2005, ISBN 0-89820-165-9.

External links

[edit] Wikiquote has quotations related to George Jones. Wikimedia Commons has media related to George Jones (musician).

• Official website
• George Jones at AllMusic
• Bandit Records (record label)
• George Jones at IMDb

v t e George Jones
Albums Singles Discography with Tammy Wynette Awards
Solo studio albums	Grand Ole Opry's New Star Country Church Time White Lightning and Other Favorites George Jones Salutes Hank Williams George Jones Sings Country and Western Hits George Jones Sings from the Heart George Jones Sings Bob Wills Homecoming in Heaven My Favorites of Hank Williams I Wish Tonight Would Never End George Jones Sings Like the Dickens! I Get Lonely in a Hurry The Race Is On Mr. Country & Western Music New Country Hits Old Brush Arbors Trouble in Mind Country Heart Love Bug I'm a People We Found Heaven Right Here on Earth at "4033" Walk Through This World with Me George Jones Sings the Songs of Dallas Frazier The George Jones Story My Country If My Heart Had Windows I'll Share My World with You Where Grass Won't Grow Will You Visit Me on Sunday George Jones with Love George Jones Sings the Great Songs of Leon Payne George Jones (We Can Make It) A Picture of Me (Without You) Nothing Ever Hurt Me (Half as Bad as Losing You) In a Gospel Way The Grand Tour Memories of Us The Battle Alone Again I Wanta Sing Bartender's Blues My Very Special Guests I Am What I Am Still the Same Ole Me Shine On Jones Country You've Still Got a Place in My Heart Ladies' Choice Who's Gonna Fill Their Shoes Wine Colored Roses Too Wild Too Long One Woman Man You Oughta Be Here with Me And Along Came Jones Walls Can Fall High-Tech Redneck The Bradley Barn Sessions I Lived to Tell It All It Don't Get Any Better Than This Cold Hard Truth The Rock: Stone Cold Country 2001 The Gospel Collection Hits I Missed...And One I Didn't Burn Your Playhouse Down George Jones & The Smoky Mountain Boys
Collaborative studio albums	What's in Our Heart (with Melba Montgomery) Close Together (As You and Me) (with Melba Montgomery) Bluegrass Hootenanny (with Melba Montgomery) George Jones & Gene Pitney – For the First Time! Two Great Stars George Jones & Gene Pitney – Recorded in Nashville, Tennessee! (with Gene Pitney) It's Country Time Again! (with Gene Pitney) Double Trouble (with Johnny Paycheck) A Taste of Yesterday's Wine (with Merle Haggard) Kickin' Out the Footlights...Again (with Merle Haggard) George Jones & The Smoky Mountain Boys
Compilation albums	Hillbilly Hit Parade George Jones Singing 14 Top Country Song Favorites George Jones Sings His Greatest Hits The Fabulous Country Music Sound of George Jones Long Live King George The Crown Prince of Country Music A King & Two Queens (with Judy Lynn and Melba Montgomery) Blue & Lonesome Heartaches & Tears Famous Country Duets Hits by George The Best of George Jones All-Time Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 Encore Anniversary – 10 Years of Hits By Request Super Hits Friends in High Places Super Hits, Volume 2 16 Biggest Hits 50 Years of Hits God's Country: George Jones and Friends
Live albums	First Time Live Live at Dancetown U.S.A. Live with the Possum
Related artists	Merle Haggard Melba Montgomery Johnny Paycheck Gene Pitney Margie Singleton Tammy Wynette
Related articles	George & Tammy

v t e George Jones singles
Albums Singles Discography with Tammy Wynette Awards
1950s	"No Money in This Deal" "Play It Cool, Man" "You All Goodnight" "Why Baby Why" "What Am I Worth" "I'm Ragged But I'm Right" "Rock It" "You Gotta Be My Baby" "Just One More" "Don't Stop the Music" "Too Much Water" "Tall, Tall Trees" "Seasons of My Heart" "Too Much Water" "Treasure of Love" "White Lightning" "Who Shot Sam" "Big Harlan Taylor"
1960s	"Accidentally on Purpose" "Out of Control" "The Window Up Above" "Family Bible" "Tender Years" "Aching, Breaking Heart" "She Thinks I Still Care" "Open Pit Mine" "A Girl I Used to Know" "Your Heart Turned Left (And I Was on the Right)" "I'll Share My World with You "The Race Is On" "Love Bug" "Take Me" "I'm a People" "Walk Through This World with Me" "I Can't Get There from Here" "If My Heart Had Windows" "Say It's Not You" "Small Time Laboring Man" "As Long as I Live" "Milwaukee, Here I Come" (with Brenda Carter) "When the Grass Grows Over Me" "I'll Share My World with You" "If Not for You" "She's Mine"
1970s	"Where Grass Won't Grow" "Tell Me My Lying Eyes Are Wrong" "A Good Year for the Roses" "Sometimes You Just Can't Win" "Right Won't Touch a Hand" "I'll Follow You (Up to Our Cloud)" "We Can Make It" "Loving You Could Never Be Better" "A Picture of Me (Without You)" "What My Woman Can't Do" "Nothing Ever Hurt Me (Half as Bad as Losing You)" "Once You've Had the Best" "The Grand Tour" "The Door" "These Days (I Barely Get By)" "Memories of Us" "The Battle" "You Always Look Your Best (Here in My Arms)" "Her Name Is" "Old King Kong" "If I Could Put Them All Together (I'd Have You)" "Bartender's Blues" "I'll Just Take It Out in Love" "Someday My Day Will Come"
1980s	"He Stopped Loving Her Today" "I'm Not Ready Yet" "If Drinkin' Don't Kill Me (Her Memory Will)" "Still Doin' Time" "Same Ole Me" "Shine On (Shine All Your Sweet Love on Me)" "I Always Get Lucky with You" "Tennessee Whiskey" "You've Still Got a Place in My Heart" "She's My Rock" "Hallelujah, I Love You So" (with Brenda Lee) "Who's Gonna Fill Their Shoes" (with Lacy J. Dalton) "The One I Loved Back Then (The Corvette Song)" "Somebody Wants Me Out of the Way" "Wine Colored Roses" "The Right Left Hand" "I Turn to You" "The Bird" "I'm a Survivor" "The Old Man No One Loves" "If I Could Bottle This Up" (with Shelby Lynne) "I'm a One Woman Man" "The King Is Gone (So Are You)" "Writing on the Wall" "Radio Lover"
1990s	"You Couldn't Get the Picture" "I Don't Need Your Rockin' Chair" "Honky Tonk Song" "Choices"
As a collaborative artist	"Yearning" (with Jeanette Hicks) "Did I Ever Tell You" (with Margie Singleton) "Waltz of the Angels" (with Margie Singleton) "We Must Have Been Out of Our Minds" (with Melba Montgomery) "Let's Invite Them Over" (with Melba Montgomery) "Please Be My Love" (with Melba Montgomery) "What's in Our Heart" (with Melba Montgomery) "Things Have Gone to Pieces" (with Gene Pitney) "I've Got Five Dollars and It's Saturday Night" (with Gene Pitney) "Blue Moon of Kentucky" (with Melba Montgomery) "That's All It Took (with Gene Pitney) "Maybellene" (with Johnny Paycheck) "You Can Have Her" (with Johnny Paycheck) "When You're Ugly Like Us (You Just Naturally Got to Be Cool)" (with Johnny Paycheck) "You Better Move On" (with Johnny Paycheck) "Yesterday's Wine" (with Merle Haggard) "C.C. Waterback" (with Merle Haggard)
As a featured artist	"We Didn't See a Thing" (Ray Charles with Chet Atkins and George Jones) "A Few Ole Country Boys" (Randy Travis featuring George Jones) "You Don't Seem to Miss Me" (Patty Loveless with George Jones) "A Country Boy Can Survive (Y2K version)" (Chad Brock featuring George Jones and Hank Williams, Jr.) "Country Boy" (Aaron Lewis featuring Charlie Daniels and George Jones)
Promotional singles	"Wrong Number"
Other charted songs	"Money to Burn" "Big Fool of the Year" "I Saw Me" "What's in Our Heart" (with Melba Montgomery) "My Tears Are Overdue" "I Just Don't Give a Damn" "He Stopped Loving Her Today"

v t e George Jones and Tammy Wynette
Discography George Jones albums George Jones singles Tammy Wynette albums Tammy Wynette singles
Studio albums	We Go Together (1971) Me and the First Lady (1972) We Love to Sing About Jesus (1972) Let's Build a World Together (1973) We're Gonna Hold On (1973) George & Tammy & Tina (1975) Golden Ring (1976) Together Again (1980) One (1995)
Compilation albums	Greatest Hits (1977) George and Tammy Super Hits (1995)
Singles	"Take Me" "The Ceremony" "Let's Build a World Together" "We're Gonna Hold On" "(We're Not) The Jet Set" "We Loved It Away" "Golden Ring" "Near You" "Southern California" "Two Story House" "A Pair of Old Sneakers"
George & Tammy

Awards for George Jones

v t e CMA Male Vocalist of the Year Jack Greene (1967) Glen Campbell (1968) Johnny Cash (1969) Merle Haggard (1970) Charley Pride (1971) Charley Pride (1972) Charlie Rich (1973) Ronnie Milsap (1974) Waylon Jennings (1975) Ronnie Milsap (1976) Ronnie Milsap (1977) Don Williams (1978) Kenny Rogers (1979) George Jones (1980) George Jones (1981) Ricky Skaggs (1982) Lee Greenwood (1983) Lee Greenwood (1984) George Strait (1985) George Strait (1986) Randy Travis (1987) Randy Travis (1988) Ricky Van Shelton (1989) Clint Black (1990) Vince Gill (1991) Vince Gill (1992) Vince Gill (1993) Vince Gill (1994) Vince Gill (1995) George Strait (1996) George Strait (1997) George Strait (1998) Tim McGraw (1999) Tim McGraw (2000) Toby Keith (2001) Alan Jackson (2002) Alan Jackson (2003) Keith Urban (2004) Keith Urban (2005) Keith Urban (2006) Brad Paisley (2007) Brad Paisley (2008) Brad Paisley (2009) Blake Shelton (2010) Blake Shelton (2011) Blake Shelton (2012) Blake Shelton (2013) Blake Shelton (2014) Chris Stapleton (2015) Chris Stapleton (2016) Chris Stapleton (2017) Chris Stapleton (2018) Luke Combs (2019) Luke Combs (2020) Chris Stapleton (2021) Chris Stapleton (2022) Chris Stapleton (2023) Chris Stapleton (2024) Cody Johnson (2025) v t e Country Music Hall of Fame 1990s Tennessee Ernie Ford (1990) Felice and Boudleaux Bryant (1991) George Jones (1992) Frances Preston (1992) Willie Nelson (1993) Merle Haggard (1994) Roger Miller (1995) Jo Walker-Meador (1995) Patsy Montana (1996) Buck Owens (1996) Ray Price (1996) Harlan Howard (1997) Brenda Lee (1997) Cindy Walker (1997) George Morgan (1998) Elvis Presley (1998) E.W. "Bud" Wendell (1998) Tammy Wynette (1998) Johnny Bond (1999) Dolly Parton (1999) Conway Twitty (1999) v t e Kennedy Center Honorees (2000s) 2000 Mikhail Baryshnikov Chuck Berry Plácido Domingo Clint Eastwood Angela Lansbury 2001 Julie Andrews Van Cliburn Quincy Jones Jack Nicholson Luciano Pavarotti 2002 James Earl Jones James Levine Chita Rivera Paul Simon Elizabeth Taylor 2003 James Brown Carol Burnett Loretta Lynn Mike Nichols Itzhak Perlman 2004 Warren Beatty Ossie Davis & Ruby Dee Elton John Joan Sutherland John Williams 2005 Tony Bennett Suzanne Farrell Julie Harris Robert Redford Tina Turner 2006 Zubin Mehta Dolly Parton Smokey Robinson Steven Spielberg Andrew Lloyd Webber 2007 Leon Fleisher Steve Martin Diana Ross Martin Scorsese Brian Wilson 2008 Morgan Freeman George Jones Barbra Streisand Twyla Tharp Pete Townshend & Roger Daltrey 2009 Mel Brooks Dave Brubeck Grace Bumbry Robert De Niro Bruce Springsteen Complete list 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s v t e National Medal of Arts recipients (2000s) 2000 Maya Angelou Eddy Arnold Mikhail Baryshnikov Benny Carter Chuck Close Horton Foote Lewis Manilow National Public Radio, cultural programming division Claes Oldenburg Itzhak Perlman Harold Prince Barbra Streisand 2001 Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation Rudolfo Anaya Johnny Cash Kirk Douglas Helen Frankenthaler Judith Jamison Yo-Yo Ma Mike Nichols 2002 Florence Knoll Bassett Trisha Brown Philippe de Montebello Uta Hagen Lawrence Halprin Al Hirschfeld George Jones Ming Cho Lee William "Smokey" Robinson 2003 Austin City Limits Beverly Cleary Rafe Esquith Suzanne Farrell Buddy Guy Ron Howard Tabernacle Choir Leonard Slatkin George Strait Tommy Tune 2004 Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Ray Bradbury Carlisle Floyd Frederick Hart Anthony Hecht John Ruthven Vincent Scully Twyla Tharp 2005 Louis Auchincloss James DePreist Paquito D'Rivera Robert Duvall Leonard Garment Ollie Johnston Wynton Marsalis Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Tina Ramirez Dolly Parton 2006 William Bolcom Cyd Charisse Roy DeCarava Wilhelmina Holladay Interlochen Center for the Arts Erich Kunzel Preservation Hall Jazz Band Gregory Rabassa Viktor Schreckengost Ralph Stanley 2007 Morten Lauridsen N. Scott Momaday Craig Noel Roy Neuberger Les Paul Henry Z. Steinway George Tooker Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival (University of Idaho) Andrew Wyeth 2008 Stan Lee Richard M. Sherman Robert B. Sherman Olivia de Havilland Hank Jones Jesús Moroles Ford's Theatre Society Fisk Jubilee Singers, (Fisk University) José Limón Dance Foundation The Presser Foundation 2009 Bob Dylan Clint Eastwood Milton Glaser Maya Lin Rita Moreno Jessye Norman Joseph P. Riley Jr. Frank Stella Michael Tilson Thomas John Williams Oberlin Conservatory of Music School of American Ballet Complete list 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s

v t e Tammy Wynette
Albums Singles Discography with George Jones Awards and nominations
Studio albums	Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad (1967) My Elusive Dreams (with David Houston) (1967) Take Me to Your World / I Don't Wanna Play House (1968) D-I-V-O-R-C-E (1968) Stand by Your Man (1969) Inspiration (1969) The Ways to Love a Man (1970) Tammy's Touch (1970) The First Lady (1970) Christmas with Tammy (1970) We Sure Can Love Each Other (1971) Bedtime Story (1972) My Man (1972) Another Lonely Song (1974) Woman to Woman (1974) I Still Believe in Fairy Tales (1975) 'Til I Can Make It on My Own (1976) You and Me (1976) Let's Get Together (1977) One of a Kind (1977) Womanhood (1978) Just Tammy (1979) Only Lonely Sometimes (1980) You Brought Me Back (1981) Soft Touch (1982) Good Love & Heartbreak (1982) Even the Strong Get Lonely (1983) Sometimes When We Touch (1985) Higher Ground (1987) Next to You (1989) Heart over Mind (1990) Without Walls (1994)
Compilation albums	Tammy's Greatest Hits (1969) The World of Tammy Wynette (1970) Straight from the Heart (with David Houston) (1971) Tammy's Greatest Hits, Volume II (1971) Kids Say the Darndest Things (1973)
Television and tributes	George & Tammy Stand by Your Man Tammy Wynette Remembered
Related artists and people	Billy Sherrill David Houston George Jones Burt Reynolds George Richey The KLF Dolly Parton Loretta Lynn
Related articles	Grand Ole Opry Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum

v t e Members of the Grand Ole Opry
Current members	Trace Adkins Lauren Alaina Bill Anderson Kelsea Ballerini Bobby Bare Mandy Barnett Dierks Bentley Clint Black Garth Brooks T. Graham Brown Steven Curtis Chapman Henry Cho Terri Clark Luke Combs John Conlee Dailey & Vincent Diamond Rio Steve Earle Sara Evans Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Brothers Crystal Gayle Vince Gill Emmylou Harris The Isaacs Alan Jackson Chris Janson Jamey Johnson Alison Krauss Lady A Little Big Town Patty Loveless Dustin Lynch Barbara Mandrell Kathy Mattea Martina McBride Ashley McBryde Del McCoury Charlie McCoy Scotty McCreery Reba McEntire Ronnie Milsap Eddie Montgomery Craig Morgan Lorrie Morgan Gary Mule Deer The Oak Ridge Boys Old Crow Medicine Show Brad Paisley Jon Pardi Dolly Parton Carly Pearce Stu Phillips Jeanne Pruett Rascal Flatts Riders in the Sky Darius Rucker Don Schlitz Blake Shelton Ricky Van Shelton Ricky Skaggs Connie Smith Mike Snider Marty Stuart Pam Tillis Randy Travis Travis Tritt Josh Turner Carrie Underwood Keith Urban Rhonda Vincent Steve Wariner Gene Watson The Whites Mark Wills Lainey Wilson Trisha Yearwood Chris Young
Former members	Roy Acuff David "Stringbean" Akeman Jack Anglin Eddy Arnold Ernest Ashworth Chet Atkins DeFord Bailey Bashful Brother Oswald Humphrey Bate Binkley Brothers' Dixie Clodhoppers Margie Bowes Rod Brasfield Jim Ed Brown The Browns Carl Butler and Pearl Archie Campbell Bill Carlisle Martha Carson The Carter Sisters Maybelle Carter Johnny Cash June Carter Cash Roy Clark Zeke Clements Patsy Cline Jerry Clower Stoney Cooper Wilma Lee Cooper Cowboy Copas Charlie Daniels Skeeter Davis The Delmore Brothers The DeZurik Sisters Little Jimmy Dickens Joe Diffie Danny Dill Jimmy Driftwood Roy Drusky The Duke of Paducah Holly Dunn The Everly Brothers Lester Flatt Red Foley Curly Fox Lefty Frizzell Troy Gentry Don Gibson Billy Grammer Jack Greene The Gully Jumpers Theron Hale Tom T. Hall George Hamilton IV Sid Harkreader Hawkshaw Hawkins George D. Hay Hoot Hester Goldie Hill David Houston Jan Howard Ferlin Husky Stonewall Jackson Sonny James Norma Jean Jim & Jesse Johnnie & Jack George Jones Grandpa Jones The Jordanaires Doug Kershaw Hal Ketchum Bradley Kincaid Pee Wee King Hank Locklin Lonzo and Oscar Bobby Lord The Louvin Brothers Charlie Louvin Ira Louvin Bob Luman Loretta Lynn Uncle Dave Macon Rose Maddox Mel McDaniel Jesse McReynolds McGee Brothers Bill Monroe George Morgan Moon Mullican Willie Nelson Jimmy C. Newman Bobby Osborne Sonny Osborne Johnny Paycheck Minnie Pearl Webb Pierce Ray Pillow Ray Price Charley Pride Del Reeves Jim Reeves Leon Rhodes Tex Ritter Marty Robbins Johnny Russell Rusty and Doug Earl Scruggs Jeannie Seely Jean Shepard Mississippi Slim Carl Smith Fiddlin' Arthur Smith Hank Snow Red Sovine Ralph Stanley Texas Ruby B. J. Thomas Uncle Jimmy Thompson Mel Tillis Tompall & the Glaser Brothers Ernest Tubb Justin Tubb Leroy Van Dyke Porter Wagoner Billy Walker Charlie Walker Kitty Wells Dottie West Keith Whitley† Slim Whitman The Wilburn Brothers Don Williams Hank Williams Boxcar Willie The Willis Brothers Chubby Wise Del Wood Marion Worth Johnnie Wright Tammy Wynette Faron Young †Honorary former member; was scheduled to be invited, but died before the invitation was extended
Pending members	Suzy Bogguss Jelly Roll

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