The Grand Tour (27 page)

O
ne doesn't embark on a book like this without enormous help from a number of individuals, some of whom I met during my research and others I've known over my four decades in this business.

Patrick Carr gave me the chance to write for
Country Music
magazine in 1973, a year after the publication launched. Over the next twenty-four years, editors Michael Bane, Nick Tosches, Rochelle Friedman, Helen Barnard, and George Fletcher and longtime editor-publisher Russ Barnard were supportive as we covered, celebrated, and critiqued the goings-on of the moment. The inspiration of gifted writers like Tosches, Carr, Joe Nick Patoski, John Morthland, and Peter Guralnick enhanced the experience. Russ allowed me to explore the music's history to my heart's content, one of the paths that brought me here.

I'm also grateful to those who helped connect me with some of my interview subjects for this book, John Morthland and Gregg Geller in particular. Texas music authorities Kevin Coffey and Andrew Brown, who've forgotten more about the honky-tonk scene than I'll ever know, were enormously helpful. Andy kindly shared some of his relevant interview material and insights with me. Terry Maillet-Jones, librarian at the
Beaumont Enterprise,
and Angelika Kane at the
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
were also helpful in tracking down rare clippings relating to George. Other friends at the
Post-Gazette,
some still there, others retired, who proved supportive were Allan Walton, Scott Mervis, Adrian McCoy, Matt Kennedy, Mary Leonard, and Tony Norman.

Other friends whose supportive insights made things easier include Alanna Nash, one of the pioneers of quality country journalism; Peter Cooper, one who continued that level of excellence; music historian Dave Samuelson; Dr. Travis Stimeling; Steve Weiss of the University of North Carolina's Southern Folklife Center; and Mark Yacovone.

I'd like to acknowledge the work of the first two George Jones biographers: Bob Allen and Dolly Carlisle, who were there thirty years ago and whose pioneering research offered insights and context, as did George's own autobiography.

At Dey Street Books, I have a number of editors to thank. The first is Cal Morgan, who initially suggested George as an idea, and Mark Chait, who took over when Cal shifted from Dey Street to other high-level editorial duties at HarperCollins. When Mark moved on, Carrie Thornton filled the slot, and when she became editorial director at Dey Street, Rob Kirkpatrick took over her duties. At the end, Sean Newcott very capably stepped in to handle the final phase.

My agent, David Dunton of the Harvey Klinger Agency, deserves special thanks. A musician himself, Dave understands music and music journalism on the highest level. He has been a pillar of support throughout, offering suggestions, direction, advice, and wise counsel when it was most needed. It is a pleasure and an honor to be associated with Dave.

Other friends, including Helen and Mary Adisey, Karen Hutchinson, and Jim and Michelle Albert, offered conversation about things other than music when the project seemed overwhelming.

Finally, I'd like to thank my late parents, Dick and Nootie Kienzle, who didn't think the idea of writing about country music was a totally crazy idea.

There are hundreds of George Jones anthologies out there, so this is only a select list of what's in print. Some titles are available only on CD but others are also available digitally on iTunes, Amazon, or other streaming services. Many older CDs and LPs can be found on eBay. I annotated a number of the Bear Family, Universal, and Legacy collections listed here.

Starday
:
22 Early Starday Recordings
(Gusto) surveys his first two years with the label, encompassing “Why Baby Why,” his original recording of “Ragged But Right,” “Taggin' Along,” and some Mercury material, including a remake of “No Money in This Deal,” “Too Much Water,” and both sides of the infamous Thumper Jones single.
Early Hits
:
The Starday Recordings
(Time Life) includes the two outtakes from his 1954 debut session in Jack Starns's living room, where his vocals channeled Lefty Frizzell on “For Sale Or For Lease” and Hank Williams on “You're in My Heart.”
20 Original Classics
(Gusto) assembles other Starday-era tunes, adding duets with Virginia Spurlock and Jeannette Hicks.
Heartbreak Hotel
(Bear Family) consists of thirty-five upbeat and rocking tracks from Starday and Mercury.

Mercury:
Definitive Collection 1955–1962
(Universal) is a two-disc compilation built around essential Mercury recordings.
20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection
compiles the most important of these, plus a 1960 Nashville rerecording of “Why Baby Why.”

United Artists:
The Complete United Artists Solo Singles
(Omnivore) assembles both sides of his sixteen single releases from 1962–1965.
She Thinks I Still Care: The Complete United Artists Recordings 1962–1964
(Bear Family) compiles everything he recorded for the label on four CDs.
Vintage Collections: George Jones & Melba Montgomery
(Capitol Nashville) assembles twenty United Artists duets, including hits and a few tracks from the
Bluegrass Hootenanny
album.

Musicor:
The Great Lost Hits
(Time-Life Music) This two-disc, thirty-four-track overview includes “Milwaukee, Here I Come” with Brenda Carter.
George Jones and Gene Pitney
(Gusto) samples ten of their duets. Bear Family's identically titled CD
George Jones and Gene Pitney
offers the complete Pitney-Jones Musicor collaborations as well as Pitney's solo album
The Country Side of Gene Pitney
. Gusto, owners of the Musicor catalog, rereleased some original Jones albums on CD and digital, among them
Walk Through This World With Me, New Country Hits, 4033, If My Heart Had Windows
, and
Party Pickin'
(with Melba). Bear Family's
Walk Through This World with Me
is the first of two box sets exploring George's complete Musicor output. The first five-disc box covers 1965–1967, including George's duets with Melba but excluding the Pitney material. The four-disc
A Good Year for the Roses
picks up where the first left off, covering 1968–1971.

Epic:
A good many classic albums with Billy Sherrill remain available in physical and digital form.
Solo
:
George Jones, Nothing Ever Hurt Me, A Picture Of Me (Without You), I Am What I Am, Bartender's Blues, The Grand Tour, Still the Same Ole Me, Alone Again, Shine On, Wine Colored Roses, One Woman Man,
and
Friends in High Places.
With Tammy:
We Go Together, Let's Build a World Together, We're Gonna Hold On, We Love to Sing About Jesus, Golden Ring,
and
Together Again
.
Other duets:
My Very Special Guests
, with Elvis Costello, Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris, James Taylor, and others. An expanded 2005 CD version by Legacy Recordings adds twenty-nine duets.
A Taste of Yesterday's Wine
with Merle Haggard and
Double Trouble
with Johnny Paycheck can be found on CD.
Yesterday's Wine
is also available digitally.

Anthologies:
The Essential George Jones: The Spirit of Country
(Legacy Recordings) surveys high points from Starday, Mercury, United Artists, Musicor, and Epic on two CDs starting with the original 1954
No Money in This Deal
. Legacy's later two-disc compilation,
The Essential George Jones
, focuses on solo material, omitting Musicor material but adding recordings not on the S
pirit of Country
collection.

MCA:
Much of his material here, some of it of uneven quality, can still be found:
And Along Came Jones, Walls Can Fall, High-Tech Redneck, I Lived to Tell It All, It Don't Get Any Better Than This
all remain available. So do
The Bradley Barn Sessions
and
One
, his 1995 reunion with Tammy.
The George Jones Collection
is a sampler from this era.

Asylum:
Cold Hard Truth
released after his 1999 car crash. It features “Choices.”

Bandit:
Several releases on George's label remain available, among them
Hits I Missed (And One I Didn't)
and
Burn Your Playhouse Down: The Unreleased Duets. Kickin' Out the Footlights . . . Again
(with Merle Haggard) can be found on CD. The two-disc
Gospel Collection
produced by Billy Sherrill is out of print, but
Amazing Grace
, a single-disc sampler, is available.

Russ Barnard: July 2014

Dan Beck: June 18, 2014

Bobby Black: July 13, 2013

Tony Brown: May 29, 2015

Slim Bryant: October 2003

Johnny Bush: April 24, 2015

Bonnie Garner: April 23, 2015

Gregg Geller: March 17, 2014

Lloyd Green: July 2007

George Jones: October 2001

R.C. Martin: March 21, 2014

Mike Martinovich: August 14, 2014

Mary Ann McCready: April 14, 2015

Frankie Miller: October 1, 2013

Melba Montgomery: 1995

Bob Moore: September 2008

Gerald Murray: April 4, 2015

Luther Nallie: October 30, 2013

Buck Owens: Fall 1988

Pig Robbins: July 8, 2014

Bob Sullivan: September 26, 2013

Mychael John Thomas: September 8, 2014

Norro Wilson: June 5, 2015

Arlie Duff: June 9, 1996

Patsy Elshire: July 1, 2000

Freddie Frank: July 10, 1999

George Ogg: April 6, 2000

Albert, George, and Frank Hoffmann.
The Cash Box Country Singles Charts: 1958–1982
(Scarecrow Press, 1984).

Allen, Bob.
George Jones: The Saga of an American Singer
(Doubleday Dolphin, 1984).

Bonney, Lorraine G.
The Big Thicket Guidebook: Exploring the Backroads and History of Southeast Texas
(Big Thicket Association & University of North Texas Press, 2011).

Brown, Maxine.
Looking Back to See: A Country Music Memoir
(University of Arkansas Press, 2009).

Carlisle, Dolly.
Ragged but Right: The Life and Times of George
Jones
(Contemporary, 1984).

Cash, Johnny, with Patrick Carr.
Cash:
The Autobiography
(HarperCollins, 1997).

Dawidoff, Nicholas.
In the Country of Country
(Pantheon, 1997).

Diekman, Diane.
Live Fast, Love Hard: The Faron Young Story
(University of Illinois Press, 2007).

Gibson, Nathan D., with Don Pierce.
The Starday Story: The House That Country Music Built
(University Press of Mississippi, 2011).

Hoffmann, Frank, and George Albert.
The Cash Box Country Album Charts: 1964-1988
(Scarecrow Press, 1989).

Isenhour, Jack.
He Stopped Loving Her Today: George Jones, Billy Sherrill, and the Pretty-Much-Totally True Story of the Making of the Greatest Country Record of All Time
(University Press of Mississippi, 2011).

Jackson, Stonewall, with Billy Henson.
From the Bottom Up: The Stonewall Jackson Story as Told in His Own Words
(L.C. Parsons, 1991).

Jennings, Waylon, with Lenny Kaye.
Waylon: An Autobiography
(Warner Books, 1996).

Jones, George, with Tom Carter.
I Lived to Tell It All
(Villard, 1996).

Jones, Georgette, with Patsi Bale Cox.
The Three of Us: Growing Up with Tammy and George
(Atria, 2011).

Jones, Margaret.
Patsy: The Life and Times of Patsy Cline
(HarperCollins, 1994).

Kingsbury, Paul, Michael McCall, and John Rumble, eds.
The Encyclopedia of Country Music: Compiled by the Staff of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
(Oxford University Press, 2012).

Kingsbury, Paul, and Alanna Nash, eds.
Will the Circle Be Unbroken: Country Music in America
(DK Publishing, 2006).

Mandrell, Barbara, with George Vecsey.
Get to the Heart: My Story
(Bantam, 1990).

McDonough, Jimmy.
Tammy Wynette: Tragic Country Queen
(Penguin, 2010).

Montgomery, Charlene.
The Legend of George Jones: His Life and Death
(Heritage Builders Publishing, 2014).

Nash, Alanna.
Behind Closed Doors: Talking with the Legends of Country Music
(Knopf, 1988).

Patoski, Joe Nick.
Willie Nelson: An Epic Life
(Little, Brown, 2008).

Richards, Keith.
Life
(Little, Brown, 2010).

Russell, Tony.
Country Music Records: A Discography: 1921–1942
(Oxford University Press, 2004).

Texas Medicine Volume 8
(1912).

Tosches, Nick.
The Nick Tosches Reader
(DaCapo, 2000).

Whitburn, Joel.
Top Country Albums: 1964 to 1997
(Record Research, 1997).

.
Top Country Songs: 1944 to 2005
(Record Research, 2005).

White, Howard.
Every Highway Out of Nashville
(JP Productions, 1990).

Wyman, Bill.
Stone Alone
(Penguin, 1990).

Wynette, Tammy, with Joan Dew.
Stand By Your Man: An Autobiography
(Simon & Schuster, 1979).

Allen, Sherhonda. “George Jones Makes Pitch for Country Sausage.” Florence, AL,
Times-Daily
(July 23, 2003): 1B, 4B.

“Angry Fans Walk Out of George Jones Show.”
Ocala Star-Banner
(December 5, 1987): 2A.

Brewer, Steve, and Rebecca Shockley. “Bridge Idea Plays Possum.”
Beaumont Enterprise
(August 2, 1994): 1A, 3A.

Buck, Jerry. “Actress Plays Tammy Wynette in TV Film.”
Spokane Daily Chronicle
(March 27, 1981): 11.

Carr, Patrick. “George Jones Sings His Brains Out.”
Village Voice
(November 8, 1976): 65.

Catlin, Roger. “George Jones, Tammy Wynette Give Fans an Uneven Show.”
Hartford Courant
(July 7, 1995).

Cooper, Peter. “George Jones, Country Music Hall of Famer and Master of Sad Ballads, Dies at Age 81.”
Nashville Tennessean
(April 26, 2013).

. “George Jones Knew He Would Be a No-Show Tonight.”
Nashville Tennessean
(November 22, 2013).

. “George Jones: Remembering the Friend, Father, Husband.”
Nashville Tennessean
(May 1, 2013).

“Country Artists Protest.”
Gadsden Times
(November 26, 1974).

“Country Legend to Teach Music Business Fundamentals.” Associated Press (January 18, 2007).

“Country Music Couple to Record.”
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
(April 17, 1976): 10A.

“Country Music Singer Is Granted a Divorce.”
Journal
(March 13, 1975).

“Country Singer Jones Faces January 19 Cocaine Trial.”
Ocala Star-Banner
(December 12, 1982): C1.

Croft, Lynne. “Tammy Wynette–George Jones Relived in TV-Movie.”
Lakeland Ledger
(March 31, 1981): 6C.

Edwards, Joe. “Marriage Gave George Jones a New Life.”
Lawrence Journal-World
(March 14, 1984).

. “They Don't Joke about George Jones Anymore.”
Lewiston Journal
(June 19, 1982): 13.

. “Year Long Battle Pays Off for Country Music Singer.”
Prescott Courier
(October 10, 1980): 17.

“Fans Bolt Jones' Concert.”
Gainesville Sun
(December 6, 1987): 2A.

“Farmers Receive Concert Tickets.”
Rome News-Tribune
(May 28, 1987): 12.

Fausset, Richard. “Mower Meets Moonshine at a Museum for Country Star George Jones.”
New York Times
(May 23, 2015).

“George Jones.”
Kentucky New Era
(September 18, 1978): 10.

“George Jones Arrested in Tennessee.”
Gadsden Times
(May 26, 1982): 2.

“George Jones Arrested on Drunk Driving Charge.” Florence, AL,
Times-Daily
(March 30, 1982): 5.

“George Jones Behind in Child Support.”
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
(September 22, 1978): 13A.

“George Jones Climbs One More Mountain.”
Toledo Blade
(December 9, 1984): G3.

“George Jones Cocaine Possession Trial Delayed until Next Month.”
Ocala Star-Banner
(January 19, 1983): 9A.

“George Jones Fan Backs Up His Admiration with $737 in Cash.”
Ocala Star-Banner
(July 9, 1982): 5A.

“George Jones Files Bankruptcy.”
Daytona Beach Morning Journal
(December 16, 1978): 2A.

“George Jones Files Libel Suit.”
St. Petersburg Independent
(July 25, 1984): 2A.

“George Jones Grabs the Cash and Leaves in the Middle of Concert.”
Lakeland Ledger
(May 7, 1983): 2.

“George Jones Hits the Road Again—Ahead of Schedule.”
Lewiston Daily Sun
(May 7, 1983): 23.

“George Jones Hospitalized.”
Rome News Tribune
(October 23, 1990): 12.

“George Jones Hospitalized.”
Tuscaloosa News
(August 1, 1987): 4.

“George Jones Out of Hospital.”
Wilmington Morning Star
(October 27, 1990): 2A.

“George Jones Pleads Guilty to Drug Charges.” Florence, AL,
Times-Daily
(February 11, 1983): 13.

“George Jones Released from Hospital.” Associated Press (March 19, 1999).

“George Jones' Check to Cover Fine Bounces.”
Ocala Star-Banner
(June 11, 1982): 7A.

“George Jones' Two Sons Sue Over Royalties.”
Wilmington Morning Star
(September 9, 1995): 2A.

Goodwin, Jim. “Young Vidor Singer Heads for Big Time.”
Beaumont Enterprise
(January 15, 1965).