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Tyler Mahan Coe

Cocaine & Rhinestones: The History of Country Music

Please select "BOOK" from the main menu on the C&R website for more info on any of these things.

BOOK NEWS: Signed Pre-Orders, Wayne White Art Giveaway & Sept. 14th Live Event in Nashville

Season 2 has been adapted into a book from Simon & Schuster, available now

ANNOUNCEMENT: Book Adaptation of Season 2

The end of one story is just the beginning of another.

CR032/PH18 - Glenn

At least this whole story has a happy ending, right? Of course, whether or not that's true depends a lot on your personal definitions of both "happy ending" and "whole story" but, either way, today we reach the final chapter of George Jones' life. Don't worry, it'll all be over soon.

CR031/PH17 - Choices: George Jones' Last Run

Oh, you thought Jones had a hard time dealing with George Richey? Imagine being married to the guy. Today we say one of the saddest and most infuriating goodbyes we'll ever have to say, the one we say to Tammy Wynette.

CR030/PH16 - Another Lonely Song: The Tammy Wynette & George Richey Story

Oh, you're back to hear more things that will chill you to the bone? Then we can talk about what George Jones' life was like in the period leading up to and through the biggest hit of his career. If you've ever wondered what it's like to be afraid of a demonic duck or try murdering your best friend to test the existence of God, well, these are questions only George Jones can answer but just asking them makes for one jaw-dropping and heartbreaking story.

CR029/PH15 - Hell Stays Open All Night Long: George Jones, Phase III

It's a known fact that "He Stopped Loving Her Today" is the best and saddest country song of all time. But... is it?

CR028/PH14 - Divorce/Death: He Stopped Loving Her Today, The Grand Tour & A Good Year for the Roses

What if the first serious opinions that millions of rock music fans formed about country music were based on a few massive errors which then got passed down to future generations? How long do you think it would take for society to build a fundamentally flawed history of an entire genre on top of such a foundation? Fifty years? Well, that's exactly what happened.

Billy Sherrill's name means nothing to many country music fans. Some recognize it from the album credits of a few of their favorite country artists. Others manage to cast him as an enemy of the genre. But anyone who hears the name Billy Sherrill and thinks anything less than "he's one of the most important producers in the history of Nashville, who made some of the greatest and most influential records of all time in any genre" has not been given enough information about the man or the music. That changes today.

CR027/PH13 - Billy Sherrill's Nashville Sound

Following her breakup with George Jones, many people had many questions for Tammy Wynette. Well, they had questions for George, too, but he was a little harder to get in touch with, trying to drink himself onto a separate plane of reality from his conscious mind and all. So the questions went to Tammy. And she had answers. Then more answers. And more... And more.

It's never been easy for ladies in country music. Here's how it became for The First Lady.

CR026/PH12 - Loved It Away: Tammy Wynette, On Her Own

Though they were married to each other for little more than five years, the legacies of George Jones and Tammy Wynette are forever inseparable. This is partly due to their unprecedented success with creating music "based on the true story" of a romance between two artists, to such a degree that decades later there are still millions of fans who believe George and Tammy never stopped being in love with each other. If it's difficult to say where the line is between art and artist, public and private, fiction and fact, then it's only because there was a coordinated effort from perhaps a dozen people working to bury that line beneath a mountain of hit records and royalty checks.

CR025/PH11 - Being Together: The George Jones & Tammy Wynette Story

There are some personalities who would embrace being called The Greatest Country Singer Ever or, at least, settle into the role once it became clear the brand was eternal. George Jones did not have one of those personalities. The fame and fortune generated by his talent made him want to run away, so he spent decades running... toward something even worse than what he was trying to escape.

Was there ever a chance of this story playing out any differently? Probably not, no. But what in the hell even happened here? Our search for answers takes us back to Texas for one Singing Marine's perspective on what it was like when lightning started flashing and thunder started clashing as he took the country music world by storm.

CR019/PH05 - Wandering Soul: George Jones, Starday Recording Artist

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