Nation music is the place we flip to work by a few of the most darkish and miserable moments in life, with probably the most everlasting themes in nation music being the “Massive ‘D’.” A number of the best songs within the catalogs of nation music legends sort out divorce, like “The Grand Tour” by George Jones, and Tammy Wynette’s “D.I.V.O.R.C.E.”
George and Tammy have been two of the most effective to ever do it—divorce songs, and nation music basically. So maybe it needs to be of no shock that Mr. and Mrs. Nation Music would themselves get married, have a baby, and ultimately, divorce. It was like a rustic music come to life.
It was 50 years in the past right now—March twelfth 1975—that the ink formally dried on the divorce papers for George Jones and Tammy Wynette, ending what maybe was probably the most tumultuous marriages in historical past—nation music or in any other case. Nevertheless it didn’t finish the music for both, as solo artists, and collectively.
Each George Jones and Tammy Wynette have been twice divorced earlier than they married, so that they already had some expertise with nuptials and annulments. They first met in a Nashville recording studio whereas Wynette was nonetheless married to songwriter Don Chapel. All three turned mates. However one night time when Jones went to Tammy and Don’s home for dinner, and Tammy and Don acquired in a heated argument. Don referred to as Tammy a “son of a bitch” in entrance of George, and George misplaced it.
“I felt rage fly throughout me,” Jones stated in his autobiography. “I jumped from my chair, put my palms beneath the dinner desk, and flipped it over. Dishes, utensils, and glasses flew in all instructions. Don’s and Tammy’s eyes acquired about as huge because the flying dinner plates.”
George professed his love for Tammy proper then and there, and the remaining was (a tumultuous) historical past. They acquired married on February sixteenth, 1969, and had their one and solely baby in 1970, Tamala Georgette Jones. The couple would additionally give start to quite a few duet hits, together with “Take Me” in 1971, their vows in music through “The Ceremony,” and when issues began to bitter, “We’re Gonna Maintain On” that went to #1 in 1973. Throughout their marriage, George Jones and Tammy Wynette recorded six duet albums collectively to go together with their profitable solo careers.
The wedding was nice for nation music, however horrible for each George and Tammy. They have been passionate lovers, and by all accounts, utterly unhinged. As was stated on the time, they liked one another slightly an excessive amount of. Only a yr into the wedding, and Tammy remembers an incident the place George chased her round their Florida mansion with a loaded rifle, and allegedly, even took a shot at her as she ran away. George denied the incident, however he did find yourself in a psychiatric hospital and a straitjacket for 10 days.
George Jones had horrible issues with alcohol, and later, cocaine. Whether or not Wynette had psychological well being points herself or George drove her that means (or vice versa) relies on whose facet of the story you hear (or imagine). However by 1973, Tammy Wynette had seen sufficient and filed for divorce. Nevertheless, they reconciled a month later, with Wynette telling the tabloids on the time that the divorce was only a ploy to get Jones to sober up. It labored, however solely briefly.
The straw that broke the camel was George Jones lacking one more recording session probably attributable to his alcoholism. Tammy Wynette filed for divorce once more, and this time for good. She was quoted on the time saying, “George is a type of individuals who can’t tolerate happiness. If every part is true, there’s something in him that makes him destroy it, and destroy me with it.”
The wedding was over, however the musical collaborations would proceed. Tammy Wynette and George Jones would go on to document three extra studio albums collectively, and mint #1’s with “Golden Ring,” “Close to You,” and a #2 hit with “Two Story Home.” George Jones would proceed to profess his love for Tammy, even after she married songwriter George Richey, who mockingly, was one of many songwriters for George’s divorce music “The Grand Tour.”
George Jones would go on to marry Nancy Sepulvado in 1981, and after some extra years of untamed moments, lastly acquired sober for good. George and Tammy’s final album collectively got here in 1995 within the type of One. That they had reconciled and remained mates when Tammy Wynette died on April 6, 1998. Their story would go on to be an Emmy-nominated collection for Showtime in 2022/2023.
It was a wild trip. However the ache they induced one another, and the honest love they honestly felt was perpetually etched into the songs of Mr. and Mrs. Nation Music, and stays an indelible a part of the nation music story.
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