The Grand Tour

by Rich Kienzle

  In releasing the script, the Clark campaign erroneously referred to George as a “lifelong Tennessean,” which would surely surprise the state of Texas. Clark’s candidacy was short-lived, but George’s support stood out in a Music Row increasingly trending Republican. Given Clark’s stature, no Dixie Chicks–style backlash ensued over George’s endorsement.

  HALF A CENTURY HAD PASSED SINCE THE GANGLY YOUNG SINGER STOOD AT THE mike in Jack Starns’s living room and waited for the light switch to flip before singing “No Money in This Deal.” Now 2004 became a year of celebrating his fiftieth anniversary in the business, even though he’d actually started in the late forties. To commemorate the occasion, Bandit Records offered George Jones—50 Years of Hits, a three-CD retrospective starting with “Why Baby Why” and ending with “Amazing Grace” from the gospel album. PBS offered a companion event: a special two-hour version of their Soundstage music showcase, also titled 50 Years of Hits, to be broadcast Thanksgiving night.

  The performers spanned forty years, from the sixties to the present day. Hosting was Reba McEntire, who’d gone from New Traditionalist to country-pop chanteuse to star of her own sitcom. Joining George were Lorrie Morgan, Kenny Chesney, Trick Pony, Amy Grant, Trace Adkins, Vince Gill, Randy Travis, Tanya Tucker, Wynonna, Aaron Neville, Connie Smith, Emmylou Harris, Harry Connick Jr., Alan Jackson, and rapper Uncle Kracker.

  Most performances were first-rate, but a few stood out, like Jackson’s boogie-driven “One Woman Man” and Neville reprising his sensitive, nuanced 1993 interpretation of “The Grand Tour.” At the piano, Connick injected gospel blues into “She Thinks I Still Care.” When George joined Travis to reprise “A Few Old Country Boys,” his breathing problems made it hard to finish his lines. He sang a number of duets, with Connie Smith, Shelby Lynne, Amy Grant, and Tanya Tucker. Martina McBride went all the way back to Starday to reprise his hit 1956 drinking ballad “Just One More.” Chesney, who’d opened for George and Tammy on their final tour, talked of George’s kindnesses back then before singing “I Always Get Lucky with You” and “Tennessee Whiskey.” Harris sang “One of These Days,” which she’d discovered as a B-side of George’s hit single “We Can Make It.” After several participants reflected on “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” George gamely closed the show with it. The special revealed much about how George was perceived by younger generations, enhancing his stature as an enduring fountainhead and influence, even though his style was verboten in the increasingly corporate world of contemporary radio. The presence of Connick and Neville spoke to his impact beyond country.

  Behind the scenes, Bonnie Garner, who’d had her own Nashville management firm, helped Shriver and Nadler. “It was a tribute to George, and he was so nice and everyone was a nervous wreck singing with him. I told Evelyn and Susan that I’d help talent-wrangle. I can remember even Aaron Neville being nervous about singin’ in front of George. I was proud of Kenny Chesney because he stood up there and sang. He was professional and I called [RCA Nashville executive] Joe Galante afterward and told him he should be proud of his kid. He made those songs his, he didn’t try to be George.”

  For his next album, George and Keith Stegall went into the studio to do something George hadn’t done since his United Artists days: an entire album of others’ hits, plus a new (and superfluous) reprise of “He Stopped Loving Her Today.” The hits were inspired choices, standards like “Detroit City,” the sixties Henson Cargill hit “Skip a Rope,” Alan Jackson’s “Here in the Real World,” Willie Nelson’s “Funny How Time Slips Away,” and Merle Haggard’s “Today I Started Loving You Again.” Bandit issued it in 2005 as Hits I Missed . . . and One I Didn’t. It became his final solo album. A year later, Haggard and George teamed up for Kickin’ Out the Footlights . . . Again, where the two friends would record four duets and sing each other’s favorites. While a well-considered idea, George’s vocal issues on the 2006 album were also apparent. They left his voice rougher; the breath control, once rock solid, was less consistent, affecting his ability to project as he sang. His spirit and desire, however, remained unaffected.

  GEORGE AND NANCY LOVED THE FARM, AND AS ALWAYS HE TOOK SPECIAL pleasure in working outside, riding his lawn mower, watching TV reruns on a flat-screen, and decorating for Christmas. Given those stark, minimal boyhood Christmases in the Thicket, he had fun creating elaborate holiday displays. Each December, he and Nancy invited fans to view the elaborate lighting setup, with illuminated angels, a train and reindeer, lavishly decorated trees, a seven-foot lighted rocking-chair model, figures of Santa and Mrs. Claus, and much more. Not even thefts (a pilfered golden eagle statue, returned three days later) could deter him. He used the occasion to raise money for local charities.

  More old friends and associates were passing from the scene. George was a pallbearer when Don Pierce died in April 2005. In July 2005 he joined young, tradition-minded Dierks Bentley to record another version of “Murder on Music Row.” The song, an angry lament over traditional country’s declining relevancy in the new, youth-oriented Nashville, had been recorded in 2000 by Alan Jackson and George Strait. Despite the disgust the lyrics conveyed (“someone killed country music, cut out its heart and soul”), the song would change no one’s mind about the way things were going in the industry. Recording it with Bentley no doubt made George feel better, especially since the final verse included the line “They even told the Possum to pack up and go home.” Late that month he finally met James Taylor—the man whose admiration for George’s singing led him to write “Bartender’s Blues” for him nearly thirty years earlier—when he attended Taylor’s July 31 concert at Nashville’s Starwood Amphitheater. The exhibit The Grand Tour: George Jones Country opened at the Country Music Hall of Fame in December 2005. In March 2006 another honor came his way in Beaumont when his name (and boot prints) were added to the Walk of Fame, surrounding the Ford Park event center, convention, and exhibition hall, where George and Haggard were performing. Other locals made good, Edgar Winter, Tracy Byrd, Janis Joplin (from nearby Port Arthur), and Clay Walker, had all been previously honored. George happily put his boot prints into a block of wet cement.

  Amid the honors, he continued to deal with health issues. On March 30, 2006, he returned to Baptist Hospital suffering from pneumonia, to be discharged two days later. He celebrated year seventy-five on September 12 by performing at the Opry on a Tuesday night. He was at Keith Stegall’s Nashville studio on October 20 when a fall broke his wrist, resulting in more postponed shows. The next week, he underwent surgery at Baptist Hospital but made it to a Carnegie Hall concert with Kris Kristofferson four days later, using a hand mike and not his guitar. George participated in God’s Country: George Jones and Friends, another all-star tribute effort with some of his younger admirers. He recorded the title song; Pam Tillis, Tracy Lawrence, Mark Chesnutt, Tanya Tucker, Sammy Kershaw, and others reprised Jones favorites.

  “He Stopped Loving Her Today” entered the Grammy Hall of Fame on January 10, 2007.

  George’s life was increasingly becoming a blend of downtime at home, brief tours, and honors from the industry and friends. His seventy-sixth birthday generated a surprise party in Franklin attended by Billy Sherrill, Tom T. Hall, Dierks Bentley, Sonny James, Trace Adkins, Mark Chesnutt, Little Jimmy Dickens, and Tracy Lawrence.

  When Porter Wagoner died of lung cancer in October 2007, George was at the Ryman to sing “I Saw the Light.” The fact that George’s music was transcending its hard country roots became clear when the acclaimed cable TV drama Mad Men, a complex story of personalities in a 1960s New York advertising firm, ended an episode with the Mercury recording of “Cup of Loneliness,” Brother Burl’s poem that George put to music over forty years before.

  The success of Branson, Missouri, as a resort that made live music its focus led many country and pop acts to perform there regularly or even start their own theaters. The notion of a Branson-like spot closer to Nashville always appealed to country artists, and an Alabama entrepreneur named Ronnie Gilley
had such a project in mind near Dothan, not far from where George had hung out in the foggy jungle of Lauderdale County. Gilley’s Country Crossing resort would be a performing venue with tourist-oriented restaurants associated with country stars, accommodations, and, hopefully, a casino. George agreed to involve himself, participating in the October groundbreaking ceremony.

  When George recorded the Bradley’s Barn Sessions album, some performances were omitted from the final release. Bandit Records issued this material and some later duets on the album Burn Your Playhouse Down—The Unreleased Duets in the summer of 2008. Another duet with Keith Richards, on George’s old Mercury stomper “Burn Your Playhouse Down,” was one of the standouts. The album also included duets with Tammy, Mark Knopfler, Marty Stuart (“You’re Still on My Mind”), Leon Russell, Vince Gill, Mark Chesnutt, and Dolly Parton. His duet with Georgette on the ballad “You and Me and Time” gave the album a personal quality.

  Late in 2008 he achieved the ultimate accolade alongside his Hall of Fame membership when he received the annual Kennedy Center Honors celebrating luminaries of the arts. Acuff had been the first country artist to be named, followed by Cash, Willie, and Dolly. Barbra Streisand, actor Morgan Freeman, choreographer Twyla Tharp, and the Who’s Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey received the honors along with George, who attended the Washington ceremony with Nancy. First Lady Laura Bush introduced a film tribute, recalling her love of “The Race Is On” and Sinatra calling George “the second-best singer in America.” The film moved through his career, the early years, the Tammy phase, the dark years afterward, and the final redemption. It ended with the words “Still country, still king.” He waved as the audience gave him a standing ovation. In tribute, Brad Paisley sang “Bartender’s Blues,” Randy Travis following with “One Woman Man.” Alan Jackson summed it up with “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” a prescient choice.

  George remained involved with the Country Crossing project, along with Travis Tritt, actor Jamie Foxx, Marty Stuart, Darryl Worley, and the band Alabama’s leader Randy Owen. One of the new businesses was to be yet another Possum Holler: the George Jones Possum Holler Bed and Breakfast. He and the other artists also lobbied Alabama legislators to approve electronic bingo, but the venture’s success would be short-lived and amount to little. The entire idea later imploded after Ronnie Gilley was tried for conspiring to bribe Alabama politicians to support the pro-casino legislation. Any chance of expanding gambling died in the Alabama House of Representatives. Gilley pleaded guilty in 2011 and was sentenced to over six years in federal prison.

  The connection with Gilley wasn’t a positive one for George or any of the others involved, but George’s past achievements continued earning acclaim. His signature song, “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” received another honor in June when it was added to the Library of Congress National Recording Registry. At Christmas, singer Ronnie McDowell, also a painter, delivered a painting Nancy commissioned: an updated study of the famous riding lawn mower incident that happened in Vidor in the sixties, showing the George of 2009 riding a modern John Deere from the liquor store, a police car following. His old hometown of Vidor, where many staunchly opposed renaming the Neches River Bridge for him, finally offered a token honor by adding his name to the Walk of Fame in front of its new City Hall on August 21, 2010.

  As George continued to face the realities of advancing age and failing health, the notion of slowing down loomed larger. The farm, with all the work it required, was getting harder to handle given his growing physical decline. On April 6, 2011, he and Nancy put it up for sale with the asking price of $11 million. George was able to head back on the road, to play another rare political function when he did a July 2 benefit in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, for Republican gubernatorial candidate Phil Bryant, who went on to win the election in the fall.

  There was another birthday celebration, at the Opry on September 13, a day after his eightieth birthday. Perhaps in recognition of his Hayride days, George received another induction on October 3, into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame, and received the key to the city of Baton Rouge. In December, he performed at Itawamba County Community College in Mississippi for a project relating to Tammy. Another national honor came February 11, 2012, when he received the Grammy Merit Award in Hollywood with the Memphis Horns, New Orleans R&B bandleader Dave Bartholomew, and Diana Ross. Also present: Glen Campbell, whose battle against Alzheimer’s disease had become public the previous year. With teleprompters and a band largely made up of family members, Campbell was still able to sing and play guitar.

  Set to play Peoria, Illinois, on March 24, George endured a newspaper interview with Pantagraph reporter Dan Craft. Asked about retirement, George replied, “If I retire, what am I going to retire to? What would I do with my time?” The engagement never happened, the result of a chest cold that proved difficult to shake. In mid-April, his publicist announced upcoming shows, including a Canadian tour, were being postponed due to an upper respiratory infection. The idea was for him to resume performing May 20.

  His return to the road never happened. On May 21, he returned to the hospital with additional respiratory problems, all part of the condition known as COPD, that began to assert itself after he came out of the cocaine haze thirty years earlier, almost surely aggravated by decades of smoking. He was discharged May 26, but it became clear his voice was failing, and his breathing problems grew more acute. The man who lived to sing, content in his life with the woman who loved and saved him, was losing the very thing that set him apart. He canceled additional concerts throughout the summer. Even his daily mowing had to end. The pollen and allergies made it impossible, a painful sacrifice he even mentioned in interviews.

  Georgette’s 2011 memoir of her parents, The Three of Us: Growing Up with Tammy and George, raised little controversy. Father-daughter issues, however, flared in April 2012. In an Associated Press story, George complained of comments he said Georgette, now married to musician Jamie Lennon, made about him on social media, including Facebook. Money, he insisted, was at the heart of the dispute, declaring, “I have gave and gave till I can no longer give. I will never let her go hungry, but I am tired of putting out, and I am not the person they claim I am.” Defending herself, Georgette denied his accusations, saying others had misinformed him, adding he was upset that she’d reconnected with his sons Bryan and Jeff, who were long estranged from their dad. The final straw, she added, involved another wedding snub. She recalled asking George to give her away at her wedding to Lennon, received no response, and later discovered he was booked for a show that day (her twin sons did the honors).

  With Glen Campbell touring the country, performing despite his affliction, and George’s vocal skills faltering, the idea of a final victory lap made sense. On August 14, 2012, George and Nancy announced a series of concerts, carefully spaced apart to allow him to rest, that would constitute the “Final Grand Tour” and mark the conclusion of his performing career. The finale would be a gala all-star November 22, 2013, show at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena downtown. Things got off to a rocky start as he canceled September shows in West Virginia and South Carolina due to illness, and a makeup October 31 show in Minnesota had to be canceled again. Audiences at his concerts seemed torn as the Jones Boys and his backup singers had to frequently jump in when he couldn’t finish a vocal line, a painful spectacle for those who saw him at the peak of his vocal powers. Some fans were in tears, upset to see him struggling. Others shrugged off his ragged performances, happy to see their hero for what would surely be the last time.

  It became clear from the occasional dates—and the growing difficulty he had delivering even partial performances as his lungs deteriorated and the medications weren’t able to improve things—that it was unlikely he’d be able to complete the tour. On April 6, 2013, he and the band performed at the Knoxville Coliseum. He struggled mightily to get through “He Stopped Loving Her Today.” What it cost to deliver even that is impossible to determine, but when he left the stage, he sai
d he knew that was his final show, adding, “I gave ’em hell.” He headed back to Franklin, still struggling, only to rebound around April 13, feeling better and with enough energy that he and Nancy would ride around the countryside and have dinner around four P.M. After that, they’d settle in so George could watch DVDs of what became his favorite TV show: Matlock, starring Andy Griffith as a rumpled but shrewd elderly lawyer.

  When he relapsed, suffering intense pain on April 18, Nancy called an ambulance. George was taken to Vanderbilt Medical Center. He improved there, but as Nancy told an interviewer, he finally asked his doctors the big question: “Am I dying?” Told that he was, George broke into tears. The man who had beaten death almost as many times as he’d charted a record, ever since that night he got slashed at Lola’s and Shorty’s, had to confront his mortality, this time knowing it was final. With the courage of a man who had beaten so much in the past, he asked only for pain medication, saw his minister, and told Nancy everything that needed doing.

  Remaining alert as long as possible for the time he had left was his sole priority. Alan Jackson came to visit. George wrote letters to his grandchildren and even to great-grandchildren not yet born. Nancy recalled in an interview that when she broke into tears, George, as confident in his future in the afterlife as Clara would have been, said, “What are you cryin’ about? I’ve had eighty-one good years. Some of ’em I messed up, paid for ’em. Now, I’m goin’ to heaven. I’ve had eighty-one good years, so don’t cry, honey.” He told grandson Carlos, “You’re the man of the house.” On April 26, George and Nancy talked until he lapsed into a coma. About six hours later, George Glenn Jones, the Greatest Living Country Singer, drew his final breath. Just before the end, Nancy recalled his final words, certain he was introducing himself to God.