40 Years Ago: George Jones, Merle Haggard Bail Johnny PayCheck Out of Jail

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We sit and marvel about the music and stories of the old greats in country music, and wonder just how much of a camaraderie and friendship was among them. Sure, we know that Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings were running buddies, that Waylon and Johnny Cash shared a stabbin’ cabin apartment together in Madison, TN for a spell, and of course you have supergroups like The Highwaymen.

But how much did the other Mount Rushmore country greats interact with each other? Were they friends, or rivals? Did they even know each other, or was there animosity? Well one story proves just how much of a fraternity the performers from the ’60s through the ’80s had among each other.

Merle Haggard wasn’t exactly Mr. Nashville in his day. Based in California, later in his career he was so attitudinal and prickly, he turned down the opportunity to be in The Highwaymen with Waylon, Willie, Cash, and Kris Kristofferson. George Jones was more of the Nashville-based superstar crooner type. But in the mid ’80s, was still in the throes of alcoholism and trying to find sobriety, and not particularly approachable either.

But Merle Haggard and George Jones had a close affinity for each other. When George Jones passed in 2013, Haggard said, “His voice was like a Stradivarius violin: one of the greatest instruments ever made. He could interpret any given set of words better than anybody I’ve ever heard … He was the Babe Ruth of country music, and people expected a home run every time.” George Jones said that Merle Haggard was his favorite singer since Hank Williams.

The two would also release multiple collaborative albums, 1982’s A Taste of Yesterday’s Wine, and 2006’s Kickin’ Out The Footlights … Again. They both also had a strong respect for the music of Johnny PayCheck.

PayCheck found himself in a little bit of trouble in late 1985, early 1986. On December 19th, 1985, PayCheck was at the North High Lounge bar in Hillsboro, Ohio when things became heated between two bar patrons, Larry Wise and Lloyd Bowers. According to Wise, everything had been friendly, and folks in the bar were talking with each other about how to cook deer meat, and a redneck delicacy known as turtle soup.

The turtle soup reference is what supposedly set PayCheck off, inspiring him to produce a .22 pistol and shout, “‘I’m no country hick!,” before taking a shot at Larry Wise, grazing his skull with the bullet. According to PayCheck, Larry Wise and Lloyd Bowers were being combative, with Bowers badgering PayCheck about trading hats.

Right before the shooting, Larry Wize allegedly approached Paycheck with an raised beer bottle like he was about to go across PayCheck’s head with it. This is when PayCheck raised the pistol, and shot in what he claimed was self-defense.

Lo and behold, Johnny PayCheck ended up in the pokey over the altercation. Who showed up with $50,000 to bail him out of the Hillsboro Jail on May 22nd, 1986? George Jones and Merle Haggard.

Eventually, PayCheck would be sentenced from 7 to 9 1/2-years in prison for aggravated assault. For four years, the case was in and out of courts and appeals as PayCheck did everything he could to stay out of the clink. But in 1989, Johnny PayCheck was finally forced to report to the Chillicothe Correctional Institute in Ohio to serve his time. He served 22 months before the Ohio Governor at the time, Richard Celeste, commuted the sentence.

George Jones knew Johnny PayCheck from his early days of playing in George’s backing band when he went by the name Donald Young. PayCheck played bass, steel guitar, and sang high harmony for Jones, and appeared on 15 different Jones albums. While in prison, Merle Haggard produced a live album and TV special for PayCheck that has never been officially released.

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