Jones, Wynette Reunite For A Time Of Making Music Together
George Jones sits alone on a multicolored couch inside a cramped tour bus at the 24th annual International Country Music Fan Fair. He’s waiting on duet partner and ex-wife Tammy Wynette, who’s running late.
It’s ironic: The infamous No-Show Jones, a nickname he earned back in his ‘60s heyday for frequently missing his own concert performances, is actually on time.
“This time, it’s me that’s late,” Wynette says as she takes a seat next to Jones. “I’ve been late for what, the past three times we were supposed to get together?”
A naughty grin comes over Jones’ face as he replies: “You’ve got to straighten up; that’s all there is to it.”
George Jones and Tammy Wynette will be spending plenty of time together in 1995.
The greatest duo in country music history has reunited after 15 years and will embark on a 30-date tour to promote “One,” a reunion album that arrives in stores today. A three-song performance at Fan Fair marked their first onstage appearance together since 1978.
“It feels like we never stopped singing,” says Wynette. “He knew what I was going to do, and I knew what he was going to do. We just walked in and did it.”
The idea for “One,” a marvelous, straight-ahead country album that recaptures the spirit of yesterday’s traditional sound and reverently marries it with ‘90s recording technology, came up after work was completed on Jones’ 1994 “The Bradley Barn Sessions” CD. Jones and Wynette rerecorded their classic “Golden Ring” for the project, and that old vocal magic swept them away.
“As soon as we got started on that, we knew it was just like the old days,” says Jones. “Everything fell in place: She knew what to do when I did it, and I knew what to do when she did it. We haven’t forgotten a thing.”
Other duos - Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner - left their mark on the genre, but the power of George and Tammy’s voices came from a bridge those other pairs never crossed: marriage.
The 1969 union of George Jones and Tammy Wynette produced such hits as “Take Me,” “The Ceremony,” “We’re Gonna Hold On,” “Golden Ring,” “We Loved It Away” and “Near You.” It also provided country music with a soap opera no publicist could ever fabricate.
Jones’ persistent bouts with alcohol and drugs - the wedge that prompted the breakup - and Wynette’s increasingly frail health triggered the real-life heartache that fueled those melancholy vocal performances. When they sang about the pawnshop wedding band that eventually tarnishes (“Golden Ring”) and the affluent “Two Story House” that transforms into a empty mansion, you knew it was more than just lyrical fodder.
Two decades after their 1975 divorce, as they sit in that Nashville tour bus, you can see why they didn’t always get along.
Jones tends to hog the conversation, frequently cutting Wynette off in midsentence. There’s a playful tinge to their rapport - Wynette smacks his shoulder a few times and giggles - but it does make you wonder.
However, Wynette gets the last word on the new album’s “If God Met You,” a rollicking number in which she deflates Jones’ overblown macho ego with equal doses of feminine sass. The hook of the chorus says, “If God met you, she wouldn’t like you.”
“It’s not meant to be sacrilegious or anything. It’s just supposed to be fun,” says Wynette.
“It’s my wife, Nancy’s, favorite song, too,” replies Jones. “It looks like the women are going to win with that one.”
Today’s young country music audience will also emerge victorious if they treat “One” as a history lesson. In an era in which hit singles and radio airplay sell records, and too many new, nondescript performers are experimenting with a slicker, pop sound to keep the sales figures healthy, it’s refreshing to hear two staunch traditionalists who carved careers with identifiable voices.
The downside of this otherwise wonderful project is that it probably will not get mainstream country radio airplay. Jones and Wynette had new albums out as recently as last year, but they have been virtually ignored by programmers for almost a decade.
Country video channels CMT and TNN are already airing the clip for the album’s title cut, and the duo’s Fan Fair appearance was invaluable promotion. But like 1993’s “Honky Tonk Angels” project (featuring Wynette, Dolly Parton and Loretta Lynn) and Jones’ “The Bradley Barn Sessions,” “One” will appeal mostly to an older audience that was part of George and Tammy’s golden era.