George Jones: Voices, Vices, and a Comeback for the Ages
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What makes George Jones's voice considered the greatest in country music?
This is exactly right.
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Disgraceland is a production of Double Elvis.
This is a story about a country singer. A country singer who heard voices. A country singer with the greatest voice in country music history. And a country singer with demons. It's also a story of a shooting, an escape, a crash, and of course, redemption. Sort of. This is the story of George Jones, a man who made great music. Some of the greatest music of all time. You're Still On My Mind, anyone? Seriously, find me a better country song than George Jones' You're Still On My Mind. That song is great music. And that music at the top of the show wasn't great music. That was a preset loop from my Mellotron called Playing Possum MK2. I played you that loop because I can't afford the rights to boogie-oogie-oogie by a taste of honey.
And why would I play you that specific slice of nose-candy-cheese-could-I-afford-it? Because that was the number one song in America on September 13th, 1978. And that was the day that the demons in George Jones' head tried to convince him to murder his best friend, Earl Peanut Montgomery. On this episode, a shooting, an escape, a crash, and the greatest singer of all time, no-show George Jones. I'm Jake Brennan, and this is The Scratchland.
George Jones took a snort of powder lined up on the back of the toilet tank. Then he took a slug of whiskey from the flask in his coat pocket. He looked at the airline ticket to New York City resting on the sink. And then he stared out the bathroom window to his truck out in the parking lot, just ten feet away. It was September, 1977, and George Jones was standing in the Nashville offices of his record label, Epic Records. He was meeting with the label's vice president, Rick Blackburn. They were going over travel plans for George's upcoming two-night stand at the Bottom Line in Manhattan. The tiny nightclub was Greenwich Village's destination for intimate performances from a who's who of stars, from Bruce Springsteen to Linda Ronstadt to Lou Reed.
With a 400-person capacity, the room was a fraction of the size of George's usual audience. But this might have been the most important show, not just of George Jones's life, but in country music history. For years, the country music industry had been looking for ways to break the genre with audiences beyond the South. Lately, it had been decided that the best way to do this would be to send George Jones to enemy territory to play for a room packed with critics from Rolling Stone, Time Magazine, Newsweek, and more.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What makes George Jones's voice considered the greatest in country music?
0:01–11:23
2
How did George Jones's struggles with addiction impact his career?
11:23–17:39
3
What pivotal moment changed George Jones's trajectory in music?
17:39–36:41
4
How did George Jones's relationship with Tammy Wynette influence his life?
36:41–39:02
Speakers
5 identifiedMore from DISGRACELAND
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