George Jones

Singer, songwriter

For the Record…

Selected discography

Sources

George Jones is often called the best honky-tonk performer of all time. An artist whose own life mirrors the defeat and despair of his song lyrics, Jones was one of the most popular male country singers of the 1960s. He has remained a Nashville favorite to this day despite numerous bouts of drug abuse, repeated legal entanglements, and even an arrest for assault. Jones has recorded so many albums and singles that even he has lost count, but since the 1980s began he has exerted more control over the direction of his music and the substance of his sound. This new control has meant that Jones’s material has returned to the unembellished, hard-hitting honky-tonk style that brought him his first fame.

In her book Behind Closed Doors: Talking with the Legends of Country Music, Alanna Nash calls Jones “the greatest country singer of all time,” a man “who understands, who can offer sympathy for the price of a quarter.” Nash adds: “The quarter drops, and out comes the voice of Despair, anxious at first, then desperate, with Jones sliding up a wail meant to caress and exorcise his demons at the same time. He holds the cry as he might the last bottle on earth, and then plunges to the low notes in a moan that leaves no doubt—when you talk about pain and suffering, George Jones has been there.”

Jones’s miseries began literally at birth—the doctor who delivered him dropped him and broke his arm. Jones was raised in a succession of small Texas towns, his family finally settling in Beaumont, where his father took work in the shipyards. Life was hard for young George, who took what little consolation he could find from the guitar he learned to play at the age of nine. When his sister died of a fever, his grieving father turned to drink, often rousing George and the other children late at night to sing for him. George ran away from home at fourteen and began to support himself playing backup guitar for radio programs. By eighteen he had married—and deserted—the mother of his first child.

Jones spent three years in the Marine Corps and then returned to Texas to work as a house painter. Within months he was moonlighting as a radio performer, imitating his heroes Hank Williams, Roy Acuff, and Lefty Frizzell. Gradually his reputation spread, and he became acquainted with H. W. “Pappy” Daily, a producer for the Houston-based Starday label. Starday signed Jones and encouraged him to discover his own distinctive sound. In 1955 he had his first country hits, “Why Baby Why” and “You Gotta Be My Baby.” The following year he realized a dream that he had held since childhood—he was invited to join the Grand Ole Opry. He switched to the more prestigious Mercury label in 1958,

For the Record…

Born September 12, 1931, in Saratoga, Tex; son of a pipe-fitter and a church pianist; married first wife c. 1949 (divorced); married second wife, 1954 (divorced, 1968); married Tammy Wynette (a country singer), September, 1968 (divorced, 1975); married Nancy Sepulveda, 1983; children: (second marriage) two sons, (third marriage) Georgette.

Professional singer-guitar player, c. 1945—. Began performing on Texas radio stations and in honky-tonks, 1945; signed with Starday Records, 1953 (some sources say 1954), had first country hit, “Why Baby Why,” 1955; signed with Mercury Records, 1958, moved to United Artists label, 1961, moved to Musicor label, 1965, and Epic Records, 1967. Military service: U.S. Marine Corps, 1950-53.

where according to Nash he recorded his first “honky-tonk classics”—“White Lightning” and “The Race Is On”—and developed “the emotional wail-and-moan delivery that would become his trademark.”

Between 1958 and 1971 Jones placed at least one song in the country top ten each year. Only Merle Haggard rivals Jones for the most number-one country hits in the history of the business. Jones’s number-one singles include “Window Up Above,” which he wrote himself, “She Thinks I Still Care,” “We Must Have Been out of Our Minds,” “Take Me,” “Things Have Gone to Pieces,” “Love Bug,” “I’m a People,” and “You Can’t Get There from Here.” Record companies bid for Jones’s services, and he switched several times, working at United Artists, Musicor, and finally Epic. For more than a decade he turned out albums at a staggering rate and toured almost without a break.

The relentless pace Jones set inevitably began to take its toll. By the mid-1960s the singer began to drink heavily and behave erratically, missing concert dates entirely or playing only abbreviated programs. His reputation received a reprieve in 1967, when he began to tour with Tammy Wynette. Both Jones and Wynette were at the peak of their careers at the time, and they proved a winning duo. They were married in 1968. For a time the marriage seemed to steady Jones—he and Wynette even ended their concerts with a song version of their wedding vows—but turbulence developed and Jones began drinking heavily again. Jones and Wynette divorced in 1975 and quarrelled openly for some years thereafter.

The late 1970s proved a nadir for Jones. He had to declare bankruptcy after a number of show promoters sued him for missed dates. Alcohol abuse led to automobile accidents, fights with lovers, and one instance where he fired a gun at a male friend. By 1983 he had been hospitalized and arrested repeatedly for alcohol and cocaine use and sued by a legion of creditors and ex-wives. Nash notes, however, that his problems “only made him more irresistible to his fans.” Even as he wrestled with the shambles of his personal life, Jones made a momentous professional decision: he vowed to return to the traditional country sound that he had always loved, a sound that had too long been submerged in over-produced tracks.

Jones told High Fidelity that he allowed his producers—among them the celebrated Billy Sherrill—to orchestrate his material in such a way that it might appeal to the “crossover” audience. “I went along with the record company against my better judgment,” he said. “I didn’t wanna do it, but I let them put strings on my sessions just out of curiosity, more or less, just to see what they might do…. When you use strings and horns and all these things, you just don’t have country music anymore… you abuse it. To try to sell two or three hundred thousand more records… hell, a man could always use the money, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to have that big a production on my records, because I’m never gonna sell pop.”

Jones’s return to his roots salvaged his career. Works such as He Stopped Loving Her Today, My Very Special Guests, and Shine On assured Jones a front-runner position in the resurgent honky-tonk format. High Fidelity contributor Nick Tosches concludes that Jones has remained so popular over the years because of his singular voice. “Unlike most country singers,” the critic writes, “there is no cheap melodrama in his singing. He works his rough Texas voice with a noble gravity, wringing from every work its full color and power. He has a poet’s sense of rhythm: the most pedestrian lyrics emerge from his mouth with teutonic dignity.” In Stereo Review, Nash likewise suggests that Jones might prove to be “the last poor boy to give traditional country music everything he has in him.”

Many times Jones has said that he plays, sings, and writes country music out of a deep love for the genre. He told Nash: “I wouldn’t care if I even got paid for the dates, because how can you put a price on it?… It’s really not that important to me, as far as glory, popularity, and those things. I just feel like I’m makin’ people happy, that they’re likin’ what I’m doin’. And they durn sure make me happy when I walk out on that stage. That’s all that’s really important to me.”

Selected discography

George Jones Sings, Mercury, 1960.

Country Church Time, Mercury, 1960.

Country and Western Hits, Mercury, 1961.

Greatest Hits of George Jones, Mercury, 1961.

Crown Prince of Country, Starday, 1961.

The Fabulous Country Music Sound of George Jones, Starday, 1962.

George Jones’ Greatest Hits, Starday, 1962.

George Jones Sings from the Heart, Mercury, 1962.

Ballad Side, Mercury, 1963.

Duets Country Style, Mercury, 1963.

Novelty Styles, Mercury, 1963.

Homecoming in Heaven, United Artists, 1963.

Blue and Lonesome, Mercury, 1964.

The Great George Jones, Mercury, 1964.

George Jones Salutes Hank Williams, Mercury, 1964.

Number One Male Singer, Mercury, 1964.

Bluegrass Hootenanny, United Artists, 1964.

Grand Ole Opry, United Artists, 1964.

I Get Lonely, United Artists, 1964.

More Favorites by George Jones, United Artists, 1964.

George Jones Sings Like the Dickens, United Artists, 1964.

What’s in Our Hearts, United Artists, 1964.

Heartaches and Tears, Mercury, 1965.

My Very Special Guests, Epic, 1980.

Shine On, Epic, 1983.

Jones Country, Epic, 1985.

Best of George Jones, Epic, 1986.

Country, By George! Epic, 1986.

Honky Tonks and Heartaches, Mercury, 1987.

One Woman Man, Epic, 1989.

(With Melba Montgomery) Close Together, Musicor.

If My Heart Had Windows, Musicor.

I’ll Share My World with You, Musicor.

I’m a People, Musicor.

In a Gospel Way, Epic.

Love Bug, Musicor.

Mr. Music, Musicor.

My Boys, Musicor.

My Country, Musicor.

New Hits with the Jones Boys, Musicor.

Nothing Ever Hurt Me, Epic.

Oh Lonesome Me, Epic.

Old Bush Arbors, Musicraft.

(With Montgomery) Party Pickin’, Musicor.

The Race Is On, RCA.

Songs of Dallas Frazier, Musicor.

Songs of Leon Payne, Musicor.

The George Jones Story, Musicor.

Walk through this World, Musicor.

We Found Heaven Here, Musicor.

Where Grass Won’t Grow, Musicor.

Will You Visit Me on Sunday? Musicor.

With Love, Musicor.

You Gotta Be My Baby, RCA.

Famous Country Music Makers, RCA.

The Best of the Best, RCA.

George Jones Sings His Songs, RCA.

We Must Have Been Out of Our Minds, RCA.

Alone Again, Epic.

The Battle, Epic.

A Picture of Me, Epic.

Memories of Us, Epic.

The Best of Times, Epic.

Anniversary: Ten Years of Hits, Columbia.

Bartender’s Blues, Epic.

Burn the Honky Tonk Down, Rounder.

By Request, Epic.

Encore, Epic.

First Time Live! Epic.

Heartaches & Hangovers, Rounder.

Am What I Am, Epic.

Ladies’ Choice, Epic.

Live at Dancetown U.S.A., Ace.

The Lone Star Legend, Ace.

With Tammy Wynette

George and Tammy and Tina, Epic.

Greatest Hits, Epic.

Lei’s Build a World Together, Epic.

Me and the First Lady, Epic.

Together Again, Epic.

We Go Together, Epic.

We Love To Sing about Jesus, Epic.

We’re Gonna Hold On, Epic.

Sources

Books

The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, Harmony, 1977.

Malone, Bill C, Country Music U.S.A., revised edition, University of Texas Press, 1985.

Malone, Bill C. and Judith McCulloh, Stars of Country Music, University of Illinois Press, 1975.

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

Shestack, Melvin, The Country Music Encyclopedia, Crowell, 1974.

Stambler, Irwin and Grelun Landon, The Encyclopedia of Folk, Country, and Western Music, St. Martin’s, 1969.

Periodicals

High Fidelity, May, 1977.

People, January 15, 1979.

Stereo Review, September, 1983.

—Anne Janette Johnson