George Jones

Musician

• Born: September 12, 1931
• Birthplace: Saratoga, Texas
• Died: April 26, 2013

American country singer, guitarist, and songwriter

With his smooth voice and his elegant phrasing, Jones captivated country music fans with his personally revealing songs. His duets with fellow star Tammy Wynette, who was also his wife, chronicled their love affair in music.

The Life

George Glenn Jones was born in Saratoga, Texas, in an area around Beaumont called the Big Thicket. His father, George Washington Jones, was an alcoholic who often beat him to make the boy sing country songs, especially those by Roy Acuff. Later, Jones sang for tips on the streets to support himself and his extremely poor family. From there he progressed to radio appearances on KTXJ in Jasper and on KRIC in Beaumont in the late 1940s. In 1950 he married Dorothy Bonvillion, but they divorced a year later. After serving in the Marines during the Korean War, Jones made his first record. He married Shirley Ann Corley in 1954, but his drinking, womanizing, and long absences from home as he became one of the most popular country singers of the time took their toll on the relationship. Even the birth of two sons, Jeffrey and Bryan, could not salvage the marriage, which ended in divorce in 1968, after he met Tammy Wynette, another leading country singer who was also married.

Jones and Wynette married on February 16, 1969, becoming unofficially Mr. and Mrs. Country Music. They had a daughter, Tamala Georgette, in 1970. The duo were the most popular country act of time, with Jones transitioning into a smoother ballad style from his original hard-edged honky-tonk sound. The highly public marriage was troubled even as their musical relationship blossomed, however, and Jones and Wynette divorced in 1975. Despite the split they continued to record and perform together, though Jones's life increasingly fell into chaos. Already struggling with substance abuse for years, he began drinking even more heavily, abusing drugs, failing to appear for shows, and behaving erratically and violently. In addition he was experiencing financial problems (including with the Internal Revenue Service) and struggling to compete with younger rising country stars, though he continued to have hit singles. Things came to a head when Jones shot at his friend Earl “Peanut” Montgomery, and Montgomery had Jones committed to the psychiatric ward at Eliza Coffee Memorial Hospital in Florence, South Carolina; later, Jones was transferred to Hillcrest Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama. Nevertheless, he soon returned to using cocaine and to drinking.

Jones met Nancy Sepulveda, who helped him to give up cocaine and alcohol. Jones married Sepulveda in 1983 and enjoyed a period of sobriety, continuing to record, but he eventually returned to drinking alcohol. In 1994 he had problems with his heart, and he underwent successful open-heart surgery. He moved to Franklin, Tennessee, with his wife, and remained musically active, performing about one hundred shows each year. He kept making albums, which were mostly well-received though not the smash hits of his earlier career. He even made a reunion album with Wynette in 1995. Jones released his autobiography, entitled I Lived to Tell it All, in 1996.

In 1999 Jones' ongoing struggles with alcohol caught up with him when he was seriously injured after crashing his car in Nashville, Tennessee, while driving drunk. After pleading guilty to DWI he underwent a rehabilitation program. Several new albums followed in the 2000s, with his last full-length release, Burn Your Playhouse Down, appearing in 2008. Jones continued to tour as well, playing shows into the 2010s. In April 2013 he entered the hospital with a fever and blood pressure problems, and he died on April 26, 2013, at the age of eighty-one.

The Music

Early Career. Jones’s musical career began after the Korean War, when he recorded “No Money in This Deal” in 1954 for Starday Records. “Why Baby Why” in 1956 was his first big hit, reaching number four on the country charts, and “Just One More” was number three. After that, the hits slowed down, primarily because Jones sounded like his idol, Hank Williams. It was not until he developed his own style that he became popular. When Jones switched from Starday Records to Mercury Records, his career started to improve.

In 1958 Jones had three hits, and in 1959 he had four hits, including “White Lightning.” “The Window Up Above,” a song about unrequited love—a Jones theme—was on the country charts for thirty-three weeks, and he had several hits, notably “She Thinks I Still Care” for United Artists, the record company he switched to in 1961. He spent most of the 1960s on the road, where he started to drink heavily. In 1964 Jones switched to Musicor Records.

Duets with Wynette. Starting in 1963, he did hit duets with Melba Montgomery, but after he became involved with Wynette in 1967, she became his duet partner. Wynette’s producer, Billy Sherrill from CBS, was responsible for persuading Jones to add strings and backup singers to his recordings. Jones subsequently left Musicor for CBS, and Sherrill helped him to develop a smoother style and to focus on phrasing. “We Can Make It” rose to the sixth spot on the charts, and “Loving You Could Never Be Better” was a number-two recording.

In 1972 Jones and Wynette began a series of hit duets, songs that often reflected their personal lives. “Let’s Build a World Together” was followed by “We’re Gonna Hold On,” a song that mirrored their earlier breakup and then reconciliation. They went on tour together, making more than a million dollars a year, but in 1974 they recorded “We Loved It Away,” when their marriage was almost over.

Solo Career. Although despondent after the end of his marriage to Wynette, Jones went on to record some of his most personal and most popular records. “Once You’ve Had the Best” and “The Door” reflect his lost love, as does “The Grand Tour,” a house tour conducted by a man whose wife has left him. At outlaw country star Willie Nelson's annual Fourth of July picnic in 1976 Jones was the star, and national newspapers and journals were lavish in their praise of his performance. Nevertheless, by the late 1970s, he was using cocaine heavily and failing to appear at his scheduled performances. Despite his problems, he did receive his second Male Vocalist of the Year Award from the Country Music Association in 1980 for “He Stopped Loving Her Today.” In 1995 Jones and Wynette reunited to make One, an album of duets.

Musical Legacy

Jones was a great singer and entertainer whose ballads about lost love and memories resonated with his many fans, and he influenced countless musicians across an array of genres. Widely recognized as one of country music's best voices, he was both a strong solo performer and an excellent harmony singer in the classic duet style. His “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” about a man who loves a woman until he dies, is regarded by many as one of the greatest country love songs ever written and won a Grammy Award and other prizes. In 1994 Jones was inducted into the Country Music Association’s Hall of Fame. In 1999 he won another Grammy Award for “Choices,” and in 2002 he was awarded the National Medal of Arts Honor by President George W. Bush. In 2012 he received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award recognizing his place as an iconic figure in country music history.

Principal Recordings

albums:The Grand Ole Opry’s New Star, 1957; Hillbilly Hit Parade, 1958; Long Live King George, 1958; White Lightning and Other Favorites, 1959; Country Church Time, 1960; Crown Prince of Country Music, 1960; George Jones Salutes Hank Williams, 1960; George Jones Sings, 1960; Duets Country Style, 1962 (with Margie Singleton); The Fabulous Country Music Sound of George Jones, 1962; George Jones Sings Bob Wills, 1962; George Jones Sings Country and Western Hits, 1962; George Jones Sings from the Heart, 1962; Homecoming in Heaven, 1962; My Favorites of Hank Williams, 1962; The New Favorites of George Jones, 1962; Songs from the Heart, 1962; The Ballad Side of George Jones, 1963; I Wish Tonight Would Never End, 1963; Novelty Styles, 1963; What’s in Our Hearts, 1963; Blue and Lonesome, 1964; Bluegrass Hootenanny, 1964; Country and Western’s Number One Male Singer, 1964; George Jones Sings Like the Dickens, 1964; I Get Lonely, 1964; A King and Two Queens, 1964; More Favorites by George Jones, 1964; George Jones and Gene Pitney: For the First Time! Two Great Singers, 1965; George Jones and Gene Pitney (Recorded in Nashville!), 1965; The Great George Jones, 1965; Heartaches and Tears, 1965; I Get Lonely in a Hurry, 1965; Mr. Country and Western Music, 1965; New Country Hits, 1965; Old Brush Arbors, 1965; Close Together as You and Me, 1966 (with Melba Montgomery); Country Heart, 1966; I’m a People, 1966; It’s Country Time Again!, 1966; Love Bug, 1966; We Found Heaven Right Here at 4033, 1966; Hits by George, 1967; Walk Through this World with Me, 1967; George Jones Sings the Songs of Dallas Frazier, 1968; If My Heart Had Windows, 1968; I’ll Share My World with You, 1969; My Country, 1969; Where Grass Won’t Grow, 1969; Will You Visit Me on Sunday?, 1970; George Jones Sings the Great Songs of Leon Payne, 1971; George Jones with Love, 1971; We Go Together, 1971; George Jones (We Can Make It), 1972; Me and the First Lady, 1972; A Picture of Me (Without You), 1972; We Love to Sing About Jesus, 1972; Let’s Build a World Together, 1973 (with Tammy Wynette); Nothing Ever Hurt Me, 1973; We’re Gonna Hold On, 1973; I Can Love You Enough, 1974; In a Gospel Way, 1974; You Gotta Be My Baby, 1974; George and Tammy and Tina, 1975 (with Wynette); Memories of Us, 1975; Alone Again, 1976; The Battle, 1976; Golden Ring, 1976 (with Wynette); Bartender’s Blues, 1978; My Very Special Guests, 1979; Double Trouble, 1980 (with Johnny Paycheck); I Am What I Am, 1980; Together Again, 1980; Encore, 1981 (with Wynette); Still the Same Ole Me, 1981; A Taste of Yesterday’s Wine, 1982 (with Merle Haggard); Jones Country, 1983; Shine On, 1983; By Request, 1984; Ladies’ Choice, 1984; You’ve Still Got a Place in My Heart, 1984; Who’s Gonna Fill Their Shoes, 1985; Wine Colored Roses, 1986; Too Wild Too Long, 1987; One Woman Man, 1989; You Oughta Be Here with Me, 1990; And Along Came Jones, 1991; Friends in High Places, 1991; Walls Can Fall, 1992; High-Tech Redneck, 1993; The Bradley Barn Sessions, 1994; One, 1995; I Lived to Tell It All, 1996; It Don’t Get Any Better than This, 1998; The Cold Hard Truth, 1999; The Rock: Stone Cold Country, 2001; Hits I Missed…and One I Didn’t, 2005; God’s Country: George Jones and Friends, 2006; Kickin’ out the Footlights Again, 2006; Burning Your Playhouse Down, 2008.

Bibliography

Allen, Bob. George Jones: The Life and Times of a Honky-Tonk Legend. New York: St. Martin’s, 1996. Print.

Allen, Bob. George Jones: The Saga of an American Singer. Garden City: Doubleday, 1984. Print.

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

Dawidoff, Nicholas. In the Country of Country: People and Places in American Music. New York: Pantheon, 1997. Print.

Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "George Jones: Biography." AllMusic. AllMusic, 2016. Web. 24 Mar. 2016.

Jones, George, with Tom Carter. George Jones: I Lived to Tell It All. New York: Villard, 1996. Print.

Pareles, Jon. "His Life Was a Country Song." New York Times. New York Times, 26 Apr. 2013. Web. 24 Mar. 2016.