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But George Jones, whom Frank Sinatra calls country music's greatest living singer, doesn't fully know who he is. The 1994 Billboard chart book names him Number Two in country music-of all time. "That's amazing-I never did follow all them statistics," laughs Jones, who is at least aware of having charted over 150 songs in the past 40 years.
Jones has been almost equally famous-or infamous-for personal "problems" (whiskey and cocaine) that he has outlived, as well as problems shared with other folks-three ex-wives, including singer Tammy Wynette. Her autobiography became a TV film, so shouldn't his book be filmed as well? "That's what we're hoping for. You know there's two or three talking about it already that seem to be interested in it."
Born in 1931 near Kountze, Texas, in a log cabin, Jones grew up in an impoverished family who, like many country folks, didn't know-or admit-they were poor.
Jones faced hardship early on in his life. His arm was broken when he was born. One of his sisters, lacking proper medical treatment, died in childhood. Soon after, Jones's father started drinking. His alcoholism may well have affected his son, who became one of the most battered boozers in country music history.
Jones didn't finish high school, and as a young teenager he was already drinking and playing guitar (initially on the streets of Beaumont, Texas). His voice was high-pitched but could plummet down into a bluesy bass zone. His style of musical attack was distinctive-from holding a note longer than usual to chopping another one off unexpectedly. "I kind of got my style somewhere between Roy Acuff and Lefty Frizell and Hank Williams," Jones recalls. "I make five syllables out of one-I got that from Lefty. I started doing my own thing, I guess."
Yes, Jones did indeed start doing his own thing-first in honky-tonks and finally in a living room in Beaumont, Texas, where "Pappy" Daily recorded him for the small Starday label. "Why Baby Why" and four others went to the Top 10 during two years, 1955-57. In a desperate moment, Jones cut some rock-'n'-roll imitations. Jones recalls, "That's when country was nothing, and rock-'n'-roll was just it, you know."
The Grand Ole Opry repeatedly invited him for guest spots, finally anointing him with membership in 1969. Amusingly, Jones thought he was already a member. He says, "I didn't know they officially did it later, you know."
In 1971 Jones began charting duet hits with wife Tammy Wynette, to whom he was married from 1969 to 1975. Their tumultuous relationship gave painful realism to all of their touching hit records. Jones's post-divorce financial crisis ultimately gave him so many bad-debt arrest warrants that he couldn't come to Nashville. He refutes some stories about his troubles. "There's been a lot of things that's been said I've done, I did do," he admits, "but there's so damned many other things, though, they've added to it, and pumped things up . . . ."
Even while battling a narcotics addiction and dealing with the imprisonment of his manager, Jones won a Grammy for the immortal song "He Stopped Loving Her Today" and two Male Vocalist awards (1980 and 1981). "They try to push you aside as much as they can," he asserts, "but if you come up with what we call 'the monster song,' then it seems like they all stand up and take notice."
I Lived to Tell It All is a testament to Jones's rehabilitation by his fourth wife, Nancy. He has survived, and, thanks to Nancy (and Tom Carter), he has triumphed.
Steve Eng's biography of singer-author Jimmy Buffett will be published this fall (St. Martin's Press).
©1996, ProMotion, inc.
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