George Jones - Country Classics '1997

Tracks list

Tracklist:

01. The Race Is On
02. You Comb Her Hair
03. Not What I Had In Mind
04. A Girl I Used To Know
05. She Thinks I Still Care
06. Your Heart Turned Left (And I Was On The Right)
07. We Must Have Been Out Of Our Minds
08. Where Does A Little Tear Come From
09. Least Of All
10. My Tears Are Overdue
11. Running Bear
12. You Win Again (Remastered 1994)
13. I'm Gonna Change Everything
14. Beggar To A King
15. Something I Dreamed (Remastered 1997)


 moreJones was born and raised in East Texas, near the city of Beaumont. At
an early age, he displayed an affection for music. He enjoyed the gospel he
heard in church and on the family's Carter Family records, but he truly became
fascinated with country music when his family bought a radio when he was seven.
When he was nine, his father bought him his first guitar. Soon, his father had
Jones playing and singing on the streets on Beaumont, earning spare change. At
16, he ran away to Jasper, Texas, where he sang at a local radio station. Jones
married Dorothy, his first wife, in 1950 when he was 19 years old. The marriage
collapsed within a year and he enlisted in the Marines at the end of 1951.
Though the U.S. was at war with Korea, Jones never served overseas -- he was
stationed at a military camp in California, where he kept singing in bars. After
he was discharged, Jones immediately began performing again.

In 1953, Jones was discovered by record producer Pappy Daily, who was also the
co-owner of Starday Records, a local Texas label. Impressed with Jones'
potential, Daily signed the singer to Starday. "No Money in This Deal," Jones'
first single, was released in early 1954, but it received no attention. Starday
released three more singles that year, which all were ignored. Jones released
"Why, Baby, Why" late in the summer of 1955 and the single became his first hit,
peaking at number four. However, its momentum was halted by a cover version by
Webb Pierce and Red Sovine that hit number one on the country charts.

Jones was on the road to success and Daily secured the singer a spot on the
Louisiana Hayride, where he was co-billed with Elvis Presley. Jones reached the
Top Ten with regularity in 1956 with such singles as "What Am I Worth" and "Just
One More." That same year, Jones recorded some rockabilly singles under the name
Thumper Jones which were unsuccessful, both commercially and artistically. In
August, he joined the cast of the Grand Ole Opry and his first album appeared by
the end of the year. In 1957, Starday Records signed a distribution deal with
Mercury Records and Jones' records began appearing under the Mercury label.
Daily began recording Jones in Nashville, and his first single for the new
label, "Don't Stop the Music," was another Top Ten hit. Throughout 1958, he was
landing near the top of the charts, culminating with "White Lightning," which
spent five weeks at number one in the spring of 1959. His next big hit arrived
two years later, when the ballad "Tender Years" spent seven weeks at number one.
"Tender Years" displayed a smoother production and larger arrangement than his
previous hits, and it pointed the way toward Jones' later success as a
balladeer.

In early 1962, Jones reached number five with "Achin', Breakin' Heart," which
would turn out to be his last hit for Mercury Records. Daily became a staff
producer for United Artists Records in 1962 and Jones followed him to the label.
His first single for UA, "She Thinks I Still Care," was his third number one
hit. In 1963, Jones began performing and recording with Melba Montgomery. During
the early '60s, mainstream country music was getting increasingly slick, but
Jones and Montgomery's harmonies were raw and laden with bluegrass influences.
Their first duet, "We Must Have Been out of Our Minds" (spring 1963), was their
biggest hit, peaking at number three. The pair continued to record together
throughout 1963 and 1964, although they never again had a Top Ten hit; they also
reunited in 1966 and 1967, recording a couple of albums and singles for Musicor.
Jones had a number of solo hits in 1963 and 1964 as well, peaking with the
number three "The Race Is On" in the fall of 1964.

Under the direction of Daily, Jones moved to the new record label Musicor in
1965. His first single for Musicor, "Things Have Gone to Pieces," was a Top Ten
hit in the spring of 1965. Between 1965 and 1970, he had 17 Top Ten hits for
Musicor. While at Musicor, Jones recorded almost 300 songs in five years. During
that time, he cut a number of first-rate songs, including country classics like
"Love Bug," "Walk Through This World With Me," and "A Good Year for the Roses."
He also recorded a fair share of mediocre material, and given the sheer amount
of songs he sang, that isn't surprising. Although Jones made a couple of records
that were genuine tributes or experiments, he also tried to fit into
contemporary country styles, such as the Bakersfield sound. Not all of the
attempts resulted in hits, but he consistently charted the Top Ten with his
singles, if not with his albums. Musicor wound up flooding the market with
George Jones records for the rest of the '60s. Jones' albums for Musicor tended
to be arranged thematically, and only two, his 1965 duet George Jones & Gene
Pitney and 1969's I'll Share My World With You, charted. That meant that while
Jones was one of the most popular and acclaimed singers in country music, there
was still a surplus of material.

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. After his marriage, Jones wanted to record
with Wynette, but Musicor wouldn't allow him to appear on her label, Epic, and
Epic wouldn't let her sing on a Musicor album. Furthermore, Epic wanted to lure
Jones away from Musicor. Jones was more than willing to leave, but he had to
fulfill his contract before the company would let him go.

While he continued recording material for Musicor, Epic entered contract
negotiations with their rivals, and halfway through 1971, Jones severed ties
with Musicor and Daily. He signed away all the rights to his Musicor recordings
in the process. The label continued to release Jones albums for a couple of
years, and they also licensed recordings to RCA, who released two singles and a
series of budget-priced albums in the early '70s. Jones signed with Epic Records
in October of 1971. It was the culmination of a busy year for Jones, one that
saw him and Wynette becoming the biggest stars in country music, racking up a
number of Top Ten hits as solo artists and selling out concerts across the
country as a duo. Jones had successfully remade his image from a short-haired,
crazed honky tonker to more relaxed, sensitive balladeer. At the end of the
year, he cut his first records for Epic.

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.

"We Can Make It," his first solo single for Epic, was a celebration of Jones'
marriage to Wynette, written by Sherrill and Glenn Sutton. The song was a number
two hit early in 1972, kicking off a successful career at Epic. "The Ceremony,"
Jones and Wynette's second duet, followed "We Can Make It," and also became a
Top Ten hit. "Loving You Could Never Be Better," followed its predecessors into
the Top Ten at the end of 1972. By now, the couple's marriage was becoming a
public soap opera, with their audience following each single as if they were
news reports. Even though they were proclaiming their love through their music,
the couple had begun to fight frequently. Jones was sinking deep into alcoholism
and drug abuse, which escalated as the couple continued to tour together.

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. Two days after he recorded the song, Wynette left Jones; they divorced
within a year.

The late '70s were plagued with trouble for Jones. Between 1975 and the
beginning of 1980, he had only two Top Ten solo hits -- "These Days (I Barely
Get By)" (1975) and "Her Name Is" (1976). Though they divorced, Jones and
Wynette continued to record and tour together, and that is where he racked up
the hits, beginning with the back-to-back 1976 number ones, "Golden Ring" and
"Near You." The decrease in hits accurately reflects the downward spiral in
Jones' health in the late '70s, when he became addicted not only to alcohol, but
to cocaine as well. Jones became notorious for his drunken, intoxicated
rampages, often involving both drugs and shotguns. Jones would disappear for
days at a time. He began missing a substantial amount of concerts -- in 1979
alone, he missed 54 shows -- which earned him the nickname "No-Show Jones."

Jones' career began to pick up in 1978, when he began flirting with rock & roll,
covering Chuck Berry's "Maybellene" with Johnny Paycheck and recording a duet
with James Taylor called "Bartender's Blues." The success of the singles -- both
went Top Ten -- led to an album of duets, My Very Special Guests, in 1979.
Though it was poised to be a return to the top of the charts for Jones, he
neglected to appear at the scheduled recording sessions and had to overdub his
vocals after his partners recorded theirs. That same year, doctors told the
singer he had to quit drinking, otherwise his life was in jeopardy. Jones
checked into a rehab clinic, but left after a month, uncured. Due to his cocaine
addiction, his weight had fallen from 150 pounds to a mere 100.

Despite his declining health, Jones managed a comeback in 1980. It began with a
Top Ten duet with Tammy Wynette, "Two Story House," early in the year, but the
song that pushed him back to the top of the charts was the dramatic ballad "He
Stopped Loving Her Today." The single hit number one in the spring of the year,
beginning a new series of Top Ten hits and number one singles that ran through
1986. The string of hits was so successful it rivaled the peak of his popularity
in the '60s. "He Stopped Loving Her Today" was followed by the Top Ten "I'm Not
Ready Yet" and an album, I Am What I Am, in the fall of the 1980. I Am What I Am
became his most successful album, going platinum.

Throughout 1981 and 1983, he had eight Top Ten hits. Although he was having hits
again, he hadn't kicked his addictions. Jones was still going on crazed,
intoxicated rampages, which culminated with a televised police chase of Jones,
who was driving drunk, through the streets of Nashville. Following his arrest,
Jones managed to shake his drug and alcohol addictions with the support of his
fourth wife, Nancy Sepulvada. Jones and Sepulvada married in March of 1983. Soon
after their marriage, he began to detoxicate and by the end of 1983, he had
completed his rehabilitation.

Jones continued to have Top Ten hits regularly until 1987, when country radio
became dominated by newer artists; ironically, the artists who kept him off the
charts -- singers like Randy Travis, Keith Whitley, and Dwight Yoakam -- were
heavily influenced by Jones himself. Jones and Sepulvada moved back to Nashville
in 1987. In 1988, he recorded his final album with Billy Sherrill, One Woman
Man. The title song, which was a hit for Johnny Horton in 1956, was Jones' final
solo Top Ten hit. One Woman Man was his last record for Epic Records. After its
release, he moved to MCA, releasing his first record for the label, And Along
Came Jones, in the fall of 1991. In between its release and One Woman Man
arrived a duet with Randy Travis, "A Few Ole Country Boys," that was a Top Ten
hit in the fall of 1990. Jones' records for MCA didn't sell nearly as well as
his Epic albums, but his albums usually were critically acclaimed. In 1995, he
reunited with Wynette to record One. In April of 1996, Jones published his
autobiography, I Lived to Tell It All. In 1998, he returned with another studio
album, It Don't Get Any Better Than This.

Following the release of It Don't Get Any Better Than This, Jones moved from MCA
to Elektra/Asylum, who signed him on the provision that he would record hardcore
country music. Jones was completing work on his debut for the label when he
crashed his car into a bridge in Nashville on March 6, 1999, critically injuring
himself. Amazingly, he pulled through the accident, but the investigation proved
that Jones had been drinking and driving -- a troubling revelation, given his
long history with alcoholism. He pleaded guilty to a lesser charge, DWI, and
entered a rehab program. The release of his Elektra/Asylum debut, Cold Hard
Truth, went on as scheduled, appearing in stores in the summer of 1999. The
Rock: Stone Cold Country 2001 followed in 2001. Hits I Missed...And One I Didn't
from 2005 found Jones looking back over the years and picking songs that he
originally declined to record, but were hits for the other artists. Burning Your
Playhouse Down was released in 2008 on Vanguard Records. Jones continued to
perform into the 2010s, but was hospitalized in Nashville in April 2013 for
fever and irregular blood pressure and never left the hospital; he died on April
26th. © Stephen Thomas Erlewine



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