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George Jones: Tammy Wynette
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In 1970, Jones' relationship with Pappy Dailey was ended and he began working with Wynette’s producer, Billy Sherrill, at Epic Records, subsequently recording several more hit songs. However, Jones’ personal life took a turn for the worse as he fell victim to heavy drinking and cocaine addiction, which resulted in increasingly erratic behavior, including beating his wife and missing concert dates. Through it all, Jones continued to record with Wynette. Jones kicked off the 1980’s in a big way, winning a Grammy Award along with several Country Music Awards for the song "He Stopped Loving Her Today.” In 1983, he married his fourth wife, who helped him get over his addictions and record even more hit songs. The move was made to MCA in 1991 and George was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1992. Upon moving to Nashville, he resumed touring, performing at over 100 gigs each year.
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In "I Lived to Tell It All," Jones admits that he started drinking early, coming up as a singer in Texas honky-tonks in the late 1940s and early '50s. Jones was born in Saratoga, Texas, near Beaumont, in 1931, himself the son of a temperamental drinking man. As with so many country musicians, the story of his impoverished childhood is bound tight with his love for music. "On one Christmas I got a guitar that was about six inches long. It wasn't really a guitar at all, just an imitation," he writes. The next one was better -- a Gene Autrey model with a horse and lariat on the front -- and at age 11 Jones put it to good use, performing for his first real audience outside a penny arcade in Beaumont. As a young man he made his way performing in various East Texas roughhouses, eventually hooking up with husband-and-wife singing team Eddie & Pearl. He married the first of his four wives in 1950 -- the third and most notorious marriage would be to the late, and great, country singer Tammy Wynette -- and joined the Marines briefly after the marriage ended.
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Jones' new record producer was Billy Sherrill, who had been responsible for Wynette's hit albums. Sherrill was known for his lush, string-laden productions and his precise, aggressive approach in the studio. Under his direction, musicians were there to obey his orders and that included the singers as well. Jones had been accustomed to the relaxed style of Daily, who was the polar opposite of Sherrill. As a result, the singer and producer were tense at first, but soon the pair developed a fruitful working relationship. With Sherrill, Jones became a full-fledged balladeer, sanding away the rough edges of his hardcore honky tonk roots.
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Like his discography, Jones' personal life was spinning out of control. He was drinking heavily and began missing concerts. His second wife, Shirley, filed for divorce in 1968, and Jones moved to Nashville, where he met Tammy Wynette, the most popular new female singer in country music. Soon, Jones and Wynette fell in love; they married on February 16, 1969. At the same time Jones married Wynette, tensions that had been building between Jones and longtime producer Daily culminated. Jones was unhappy with the sound of his Musicor records, and he placed most of the blame on Daily.
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George Glenn Jones is an American country music artist that has had more songs than any other singer on the country charts. His abundance of awards span from 1962 to the present. Numerous awards for Male Vocalist of the Year, Song of the Year, Top Vocal Duo with Tammy Wynette, and a Grammy for Best Male Country Vocal Performance. He received the U.S. National Medal of Arts from the National Endowment of the Arts.
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Though every single he released in 1973 went into the Top Ten, Jones' personal life was getting increasingly difficult. Wynette filed for divorce in August 1973. Shortly after she filed the papers, the couple decided to reconcile and her petition was withdrawn. Following her withdrawal, the duo had a number one single with the appropriately titled "We're Gonna Hold On." In the summer of 1974, Jones had his first number one hit since "Walk Through This World With Me" with "The Grand Tour," a song that drew a deft portrait of a broken marriage. He followed it with another number one hit, "The Door." Not long after its release, he recorded "These Days (I Barely Get By)," which featured lyrics co-written by Wynette.
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