The Grand Tour (25 page)

Johnny Paycheck died broke on February 9, 2003. Following his release from prison, he'd attempted a comeback and even joined the Opry, but decades of hard living eventually left him with his own breathing problems in the form of emphysema, confining him to a nursing home. George purchased a burial plot for his ex-sideman and roaring partner and helped with the funeral expenses. On March 6, 2003, George and Smokey Robinson were each recognized with a National Medal of the Arts at the White House, presented by longtime Jones fan President George W. Bush, yet another validation of George's stature.

A month later, Bandit released
The Gospel Collection,
a double-CD set of sacred tunes that reunited George with the now-retired Billy Sherrill, who at Nancy's request agreed to rejoin George (as a favor to her) in the studio. The twenty-four tunes were gospel standards like “Lonesome Valley” and “I'll Fly Away,” with cameos from Patti Page and Vestal Goodman. The arrangements were based on Sherrill's classic work at Epic, down to the backup singers and pedal steel. Johnny Cash died on September 12, George's seventy-second birthday; his wife, June Carter Cash, had died in May. George and Cash had first met in the Hayride days. Dressed in a gray suit and blue-and-white-checked shirt, George, with Nancy, attended the September 16 funeral and the November 10 Johnny Cash Memorial Tribute in Nashville.

He also had yet another commercial venture, this one following in the footsteps of Jimmy Dean. It came complete with a new TV ad featuring George and Nancy in their spacious kitchen with their grandchildren sitting nearby. “I'm George Jones, and just like you folks, I think breakfast is the most important meal of
the day,” he says. “My wife Nancy here, she serves only the best to the grandkids: George Jones Country Sausage!” In the next shot, holding a guitar, he sings (in a clear, strong voice) a bit of “Once You've Had the Best.” In the final shot, of the product itself, George's voiceover says it all: “George Jones Country Sausage! Pure pork—no possum!”

George had two presidential fans named Bush. Former president George H.W. Bush had endorsed renaming the Neches River Bridge for George in 1995. But despite the honor the younger Bush bestowed on him in 2003, George didn't join Music Row's overwhelming migration to the Republican Party, which had begun long before the controversy over the Dixie Chicks' comments about Bush and the Iraq War. George had not openly endorsed a presidential candidate since he and Tammy performed for Wallace in 1972. But in February 2004, as Bush 43 sought reelection in an increasingly divided nation, George, his White House visit notwithstanding, backed a different man in a different party: retired general Wesley Clark, former NATO commander and a Democrat. George even recorded a campaign spot for Clark:

Hi, this is George Jones. You know, I've never done anything like this before, but I feel so strongly about where our country is headed, that I want to share with you why I'm supporting General Wes Clark for president. Wes Clark has dedicated his whole life to three principles: duty, honor, and country. And he shares the same values that you and I share here in Tennessee. Wes Clark knows what it means to put his life and career on the line for this country, and he'll put the nation's interests first—not the Washington special interests. I'm George Jones. Like Wes Clark, I'm no career politician, but I know a leader when
I see one, and that's why I'm asking you to vote for Wes Clark for president on Tuesday.

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 par
ticipated 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.