Some of our best years were with George and Tammy, and we were constantly on tours. When we were not performing, we were together looking at property or houses, going to Morrison’s Cafeteria to eat every few days, going shopping, visiting Spring Hill (the farm), riding in the houseboat on the lake, working in our office or Billy Sherill’s offices at CBS, and the rest of the time we were writing songs. That’s how we spent our days together. We had fun, but it all came to an end.
The demise of George and Tammy’s marriage happened when things kept popping up between them, and George would start heavy drinking. Tammy was doing things to irritate him. Looking back, I believe Tammy had encouragement to rebuttal George. I believe it had its roots in a man, who was trying to manipulate Tammy into divorcing George, so he could have her for himself. He wanted Peanutt and me out of the way, so that he could get closer to Tammy.
I believe this man put his wife on the road with Tammy, and Tammy was naive to what was happening when she met and married Michael Tomlin after her divorce from George Jones. The wife that was touring with Tammy was the matron of honor at that wedding. Mysteriously, there was an end put to the Tammy and Michael Tomlin marriage. It only lasted a couple of months, and then who was left? She was the wife of the mystery man that was touring with Tammy.
Tammy suddenly became very sick while touring. She was making emergency trips from the shows where she was performing and flying back to Nashville to see her doctor. Tammy was leaving responsibilities with the wife to take care of the kids and handle everything until she could return from her doctor visits, and it didn’t matter where she was located at the time. While Tammy was in Nashville to see the doctor, she was also seeing the husband of the woman that was out on the road with her and had been the matron of honor at her wedding to Mr. Tomlin.
The Country Music Awards were coming up. Tammy and her new love wanted to go to the Awards together, but they had a problem. The man was married, and his wife was a friend of Tammy’s. So, what did they do? They announced to his wife that they were in love and were going to get married. The wife was devastated and hurt to the core because she truly idolized her husband. She felt betrayed by Tammy.
Tammy’s friend and caretaker divorced her husband. With his wife out of the way, the master of the plan could now take a swing and hit his home run. He married Tammy Wynette and made her Mrs. George Richey. He got her, and he got control of her.
Like a hit man after his targets, Billy Sherrill was the next victim, and he was eliminated. During this melee, the ex-wife, who had been Tammy’s caretaker, mysteriously died along with her pet dog, and “suicide” was the ruling of her untimely death. Little by little, Tammy Wynette was working for a new boss. Her new husband had everything under his control in her life. He was in total control of Tammy’s productions, the publishing of her songs, her management, her caretaker, her medicine administrator, and he even became her banker and allowance giver. Tammy became his cash flow generator, but he was the owner and operator of Tammy Wynette. Tammy was the one who lost the game, and then she simply died.
Tammy wasn’t the only loser; her four daughters were next in line to take a beating. They were absolutely cheated out of everything rightfully theirs by their mother’s death. No policies or papers of any kind could be found that gave them any rights to anything that belonged to Tammy Wynette. This was a disgrace and the worst case of greed that I have ever witnessed in my entire lifetime. Everything that Tammy had worked her butt off to generate her whole life went straight into the hands of her new husband.
A short while after Tammy’s death, her ex-husband married a younger, healthier woman. This woman had also been Tammy’s friend. Friend?? Friend in the same way that Mr. Master Planner George Ritchey had been George Jones’ friend? The chips were on the table, the dice rolled, and we all lost.
Sometimes, I feel sorry for the children of the Jones/Wynette household. They were not unloved by their parents, but there was little time to spend with them growing up because of George and Tammy’s busy schedule. The older three probably suffered more from lack of attention than Georgette did. Georgette was the baby, and she came along later in George and Tammy’s life. Georgette was a rambunctious little girl once she started walking and wandering around the house.
I recall one incident in particular when George, Tammy, Peanutt, and I were sitting around the kitchen table on Tyne Boulevard playing a game of Aggravation. We had played several games before it dawned on Tammy that Georgette had not appeared in the kitchen for quite some time.
“Where’s Georgette? I haven’t seen her in a while,” Tammy yelled.
She jumped up from the table and started looking for her. When Tammy found her daughter, she was hiding quiet as a mouse under a table in the living room.
“Georgette, what are you doing under there?” Tammy asked her.
Georgette didn’t say a word. Tammy knew she had been up to something, so she started looking around to see what Georgette had been doing. Tammy noticed the cushions on the couch were not exactly in place. She started straightening up the cushions and turned one over to make it fit better. When she did, it had great big circles drawn on it with a black felt marker. Tammy turned over the rest of the cushions, and they were also marked up with the same circles. Tammy was furious. Georgette ruined a brand new very expensive living room suite that they purchased when they bought the Tyne Boulevard house.
Tammy began by telling Georgette to crawl out from under the table. Georgette just looked at Tammy and refused to move. Tammy called George into the living room and showed him the damage Georgette had done to the furniture.
“I’m going to bust her rear end!” Tammy yelled.
“No, you don’t want to do that,” George said. “Leave her alone. We can get another living room suite in here.”
Tammy wasn’t happy with George for not letting her spank Georgette, but she wouldn’t go against him. She didn’t spank her daughter Georgette, but she told her that if she ever did such a thing again, she would tear her butt up.
Tina felt a little left out at times. She was the baby of the family until Georgette came along. Tina loved Georgette, but Georgette made Tina feel secondary to her. When people came in, they oohed and ahhed over Georgette because she was the smallest and youngest child. Plus, she was a child bound to two stars. Tina found a way to rid her frustration. She’d do little things (sometimes big things) to get attention and upset Tammy. Even though it was in a mischievous way for a little kid, Tina got the job done,
Tammy had new drapes made for the house. She had just finished scolding Tina for something she did. Tammy then went about her business around the house. She assumed that Tina had been straightened out, and all was well. Tina wasn’t of the same opinion, so she decided to retaliate. She got a pair of scissors and cut up the new drapes in the living room. Tammy discovered the ruined drapes, and she was beyond furious with her daughter. She knew Tina did the damage because Georgette was too small to handle the scissors, and Gwen and Jackie would not have done such a thing. Tammy called Tina out of her room and began to scold the fire out of her. George again stepped in and told Tammy not to berate her so harshly. Tammy threatened to beat the crap out of Tina, but George refused to let Tammy touch the child. He told Tammy to leave the child be.
Jackie was a cute little mama’s girl. She was just old enough to adore her mother. She never raised a fuss about anything. She went along with whatever program Tammy had worked out. Jackie loved what time she got to spend with her mom. She was always very respectful of her mother’s wishes, and Jackie was always smiling.
“Jackie’s a very understanding girl; she’s always easy to deal with,” Tammy told me. “If I want something done, I can count on Jackie.”
Tammy loved her girls, and I know that she would love to have had more time to spend with them, but her job was not like the lady’s next door. Tammy’s career demanded almost all of her time. Her schedule was deadly. She was out on the road for a month, home for a f
ew days, had to squeeze in a recording session, carve out time for rehearsal with the band, take care of other business that had to be done, take time to listen to songwriters pitching new songs, and then do it all again the next month.
Gwen was a very pretty girl. She kept to herself because she was the oldest of the four and maybe she felt a responsibility to watch out for her siblings. She was very alert about what was taking place within the household. Gwen would stay clear of all the disagreements, she liked being in her room minding her own business, and at the same time, she kept a watchful eye as to who was doing what.
Tammy didn’t spoil her girls, or at least not the way people normally define what a spoiled child is. Tammy made sure they had what they needed and made certain that someone was always there to take care of them while she was away from home. Tammy’s mother was a real blessing to Tammy and the girls. Mildred was good to her grandchildren. She was stern and a bit old fashioned, but she made sure everyone stayed in line. She and her husband, Foy Lee, were very fine and sweet people. They were an asset to Tammy and George.
George loved those girls as well, and he looked out for them. George liked getting things for the girls that he knew they would like. He liked surprising his daughters with a special gift. Tammy was thoughtful in that way, too, but George always got a lot of good out of making someone happy with something the person didn’t expect. That’s a good quality in any man, but there aren’t many that have that kind of spirit in them; especially, when it comes to stepchildren.
Peanutt, George Jones, Billy Sherrill, Sheila Richey (the wife and Tammy’s caretaker), Tammy Wynette, Gwen Byrd, Jackie Byrd, Tina Byrd, Georgette Jones (George’s adopted daughters), and I have been sorely wounded by Tammy’s entire sordid extramarital affair. When this man faces Jesus Christ and tries to con his way into Glory-land, all hell will break loose outside the pearly gates.
George was the main victim of this conspiracy, and it’s no wonder that he was so messed up during the last years of his marriage to Tammy. He tried every way imaginable to work things out with her, but nothing worked for him. George didn’t suddenly get up one morning during the marriage and started drinking. He drank when she married him, and even though she didn’t like it, she accepted it. Then all of a sudden, it was unforgivable. Why? She had a coach who encouraged her to take a hard stand with George. That coach knew exactly what would destroy George. George wanted to work things out with his wife, but the harder he tried, the more confused he became. George was knocked out of bounds and into pandemonium with no control over his life.
Cocaine became George’s best friend, but he had no one going to bat for him, and he caught all the turmoil of the ordeal. Someone calling himself a friend played up to his face while cutting his throat. If George Jones had not been a good man at heart, somebody could have been killed. George was in a state of mind that could have become violent for someone else, but his gentle, wholesome nature is what kept him from doing anything.
How do I, Charlene Montgomery, know all this? I was there when it happened, that’s why. I saw the first sign of what was happening and coming at George and Tammy’s house one night when we were all in their basement singing, playing the piano, writing song ideas down, and just clowning around. I saw something graphic, and I never said a word. I have never told anyone what I saw but believe me a light came on, and it wasn’t long until their marriage was over. I don’t blame George or Tammy. I blame the one who was behind the plan the entire time. George was in bad shape for long stretches. His mind was in hyper-overdrive, but he finally moved on and found happiness. Tammy remained trapped in a senseless warp of time and died a lonely and betrayed woman.
This is a song I wrote after Tammy died. I wrote it for George but never let him hear it.
She Lived With Him (But Died Loving Me)
We spent a few good years together
In perfect harmony
I thought that I belonged to her
and she was made for me
But someone else came along
played a sweeter melody
She lived with him
but died loving me
They spent the rest of her life together
for all the world to see
He thought their love was right on note
but I still held the key
They vowed til death do us part
that’s how it turned out to be
She lived with him
but she died loving me
Our life together, it’s not over
We share the same destiny
Someday we’ll be together again
It will be for eternity
She’s always been an angel
but her halo I failed to see
She lived with him
but she died loving me
She’s now singing with the angels
in Heaven’s jubilee
Soon I’ll be joining her
she’s waiting patiently
Once again we’ll be together
the way it was meant to be
She lived with him
but died loving me
Tag: she lives with a man now, they both died loving me
Tammy and Al Gallico owned Altam Records. Since Peanutt wrote for Tammy’s publishing company, she wanted him in Nashville so she, Peanutt, and George could write together. We spent a ton of time with them on the houseboat, in their home, and on their bus. We wrote songs constantly.
I only had one problem about moving to Nashville. I had a daughter who was in grade school in Florence. I had someone, who babysat with her while we went to and from Nashville but in Nashville, I didn’t have anyone to help me with her. When I told Tammy my problem, she said it was no big deal. She said that True could stay with her girls at her house, and either her mom or the housekeeper would take care of her.
“True will love my girls, and they will love having her here,” she said. “We’ll enroll her in Franklin Road Academy where my girls go to school, and that will be no problem at all for anybody.”
So that’s what we did. Tammy’s girls were very good to True; especially, Tina who was about the same age.
Tammy’s housekeeper was a very sweet black lady. I’ll never forget her calling one day and asking to speak to Peanutt.
“Mr. Peanutt, Tammy is mad at Mr. George, and she left. Now he’s come home and he’s plumb drunk. You come and get him out of here, Sir, I have these here children, and I can’t handle no drunk man.”
We knew she meant business, so we took off to Tyne Boulevard. When we got to the door, she met us.
“Mr. Peanutt,” she said in a frantic voice, “Get that man out of here right now. He’s so drunk, he don’t know where he is.”
Peanutt told Miss Doris to calm down. Peanutt grabbed George, we took him with us, and we kept him until he sobered up.
Peanutt and I had more time to spend with True than Tammy did with her girls. When we got home and off the road, we didn’t have as much business to take care of as Tammy and George did. We would always take True home with us at night when we left Tammy and George’s house, and then take her to school in the morning. Whoever picked up Tammy’s kids also picked up True from school if we were with George and Tammy on the road.
This was the way life had to be if you were in the music business. You had to have a system, and you had to make it work. The demand on the life of the artist is great. You either go along with the program or you lose out. Maybe the children didn’t quite understand the whole thing in their younger years, but as they grew older and had children of their own (including True), they seemed to have a better outlook on their childhood.
Yes, it robbed them of time they desperately needed and wanted with their parents, but at the same time, it also provided them with beautiful homes, playgrounds, and luxuries they would not have otherwise had. It’s an honor to have famous parents.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Billy Sherrill–
Founder of Tammy
Wynette
* * *
There were two major assets Tammy Wynette had that made her a big star. She possessed an unusually beautiful voice, and she had one of the greatest producers in the music business in Billy Sherrill. There are thousands of singers in the world that have good voices, but they never had the producer. Tammy did. Only an idiot would say that Billy Sherrill was anything less than a genius. Why? Billy possessed the wisdom and knowledge to prove himself to the world by his abilities rather than his words.
It has been said over and over that Billy was shy, quiet, reserved, had few friends, and did not socialize with his artists. Billy was all business. He was a lot of fun to be around, but he was cautious about how he conducted himself, and it was obvious that he was not trying to impress anyone.
Peanutt told me stories about Billy before I was ever introduced to him, so I had already formed my opinions of him. I liked him and was anxious to meet him. Peanutt and Billy were in a band called, “The Fairlanes” when they were teenagers. Peanutt told funny stories about Billy. He told me that at one point in Billy’s life, he was not too fond of dogs; especially, those that chased after cars. Sometimes Billy would open the car door and knock the dog out of the way. Peanutt said that Billy would not always participate in some of the things he and the rest of the band would do, and that made me think that Billy was probably smarter than the rest of the bunch.
Peanutt was friends with Tom Stafford, who was also a songwriter and owned a publishing company and a small recording studio, which was located on Tennessee Street in Florence. It was situated in the upstairs of The City Drug Store, which was operated by Tom’s parents. Billy, Peanutt, Rick Hall, Donnie Fritts, and a gang of other musicians and songwriters hung out at Tom’s place. They all liked Tom Stafford.
The Legend of George Jones: His Life and Death Page 10
