Posted on 04/26/2013 7:19:11 AM PDT by diverteach
George Jones ... the country music megastar whose heartfelt vocals and close-to-home lyrics defined the genre for generations ... died today. He was 81.
Jones was hospitalized in Nashville Thursday for a fever and irregular blood pressure, though the cause of death was not immediately released.
Jones was in the middle of a tour -- it was supposed to be his last -- when he fell ill. Several dates had already been canceled.
Jones' towering influence on country music was equaled only by his public persona ... which often imitated the melodrama in his songs ... and was well-chronicled in the tabloids. He was married four times -- once to Tammy Wynette -- and made countless headlines for drinking, stormy romances and violent rages.
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(Excerpt) Read more at tmz.com ...
“A decanter.......shaped like Elvis........”
“He was a train wreck of a person. But he was certainly entertaining and talented.”
To be fair, George Jones is not the only entertainer who fits that description. It seems most folks in the entertainment biz are, to put it kindly, deeply flawed.
RIP, George.
I think I have every song he ever sang. There will never be a country singer like him. Never!
“No Show Jones” truly is now. RIP George.
RIP No-Show
Proud to say that my husband’s band once fronted for George Jones at Indian Lake, near Webster MA. (Lake Chargagagogmanchargagogchabunagungamog)Huge crowd. George was okay to work with. Not as “big-headed” as some the band fronted for. He will be missed.
It has become one of my favorite old songs as well.
A real old-time, cryin'-in-my-beer-at-1am-'cause-she-left-me-as-a-distant-train-whistle-mournfully-moans-through-the-warm-summer-breeze-while-I-stub-out-yet-another-cigarette-and-pour-the-last-shot-of-Tennessee-to-drown-the-ache-in-my-heart kind of song.
Nothing like a country song to cleanse the soul in times of self-pity. Great music.
Rarely does a talent like this come along.
Merle Haggard does that for me sometimes, too.
So many great songs. They ain’t making them like that any more. RIP, Possum.
Yabba Dabba Do, the king is gone and so are you.
I stopped off at the Quicksack for some beer and cigarettes The old man took my money as he stared at my Corvette He said, I had one just like her son, a 1963 'Til the man down at the bank took her from me Oh She was hotter than a two dollar pistol She was the fastest thing around Long and lean every young man's dream She turned every head in town She was built and fun to handle Son I'm glad that you dropped in She reminds me of the one I loved back then Then I handed him my keys and said, here take her for a spin The old man scratched his head, then he looked at me and grinned He said son you just don't understand it ain't the car I want It's the brunette in your 'vette that turns me on I had one that was hotter than a two dollar pistol She was the fastest thing around Long and lean every young man's dream She turned every head in town She was built and fun to handle Son I'm glad that you dropped in She reminds me of the one I loved back then Lord she was hotter than a two dollar pistol She was the fastest thing around Long and lean every young man's dream She turned every head in town She was built and fun to handle Son I'm glad that you dropped in She reminds me of the one I loved back then She reminds me of the one I loved back then
No more beer runs on the old lawn mower.
RIP Mr Jones, your now with Tammy.
I don’t think he ever stopped loving her. Those 2 made great songs together.
I do believe George found the Lord in his final years with the help of Vestal Goodman. So it is good to know that.
Rest in Peace, Sir. We will play your music all week-end and forever more.
only about six Country singers who ever “got under my skin”,
and among them were the great GEORGE JONES, and Merle Haggard. Add to that Ray Price and Marty “Devil Woman” Robbins, and a couple o* others. Interesting, that only in the past week, I’ve been thinking alot about Jones, and playing some o his recordings on Rhapsody. Today I discover he’s just died. And YES, Sinatra DID call him “the second greatest singer alive”, and I do believe he meant it.
And I do remember reading a sad/hilarious story about him and his drinking problem: one o* his wives, maybe Wynette, got so perturbed by his drinking that she continually had to hide the keys to his car, so he couldn’t drive to the liquor store. It worked *or a while, but one night she was driving home, and on the long road that led to their house, she saw a small light coming *rom a vehicle on the shoulder o* the road opposite her-—as the vehicles passed, she noticed it was George driving his TRACTOR to the liquor store, a good 2-3 miles away.
If I was still drinking, I would be filling my Fred Flintstone glass to the rim about now.
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