Country History X: The George Jones Drug Tapes
Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the inaugural episode of Country History X, which looks to tell the history of country music, one story at a time. We start by telling the crazy story of how a box of unheard and currently-unpublished George Jones reel-to-reel master tapes ended up being used as the bond collateral for two international drug smugglers.
It might be one of the wildest stories in country music of all time, and it’s one whose conclusion is still yet to be written. That is one of the reasons it was chosen as the first episode, since eventually updates will be necessary as the story continues to unfold.
Editor’s notes:
• Currently Country History X is experiencing some distribution issues, probably due to podcast networks flagging it due to the “X” in the name, thinking it contains graphic content. But it is currently available on YouTube (see below), Spotify, Pocket Casts, and Anchor, and all current episodes will hopefully be available everywhere by early next week.
• The preferable way people would consume the podcast would be on YouTube, since there is more control on the user end for the content compared to streaming services and podcast hosts (see above). You can subscribe to Saving Country Music on YouTube.
• A full transcript and sources for the story can be found below.
Transcript
Of all the crazy and sordid stories burrowed deep in the nooks and crannies of country music history that one could unearth, brush off, and present to the public, arguably nobody owns more of them than “The Possum,” Mr. George Jones. There’s the narrative threads intertwined with his notorious and tumultuous marriage with Tammy Wynette. There’s the stories of his misadventures on the back of riding lawnmowers, which were later memorialized in numerous country music songs and videos.
Yes, it’s true. George Jones really did hitch a ride on a riding lawnmower to fetch alcohol after he was forbidden from driving regular motor vehicles. Though one little fact that often gets overlooked about the George Jones lawnmower stories is that there were actually two lawnmower incidents. The first happened in the late 60’s when Jones was living about eight miles outside of Beaumont, Texas with his second wife Shirley Ann Corley. Whenever she left the house, Shirley Ann would take all the keys to the vehicles so Jones couldn’t go to the liquor store. So one evening Jones hopped on the back of a riding lawnmower and made the eight mile trek to town in bunny gear.
But Jones pulled the same bit in the 1970’s when he was married to Tammy Wynette. She woke up in the middle of the night one time to find George Jones gone. Like Shirley Ann, she had hidden the car keys, so George jockeyed the lawn equipment, and was later found 10 miles away at the nearest bar. According to Tammy, when she walked in the door of the bar, George Jones said quote, “Well, fellas, here she is now. My little wife, I told you she’d come after me.’”
Perhaps there will be a more opportune time to get into the finer details of those infamous lawnmower moments in the future, and hopefully there will be further opportunities for many of the most notorious George Jones stories. It’s sort of a bottomless well of some of the greatest country music lore and misadventures.
But just over the last year or two, another George Jones epic has emerged that hasn’t been chronicled in any biographies, or history books, or podcasts, or anything else. It’s a story we still don’t have the full picture on, and it may be years before we’re able to put the final period at the end of it. But just like any good George Jones tale, it has all the wildness and intrigue you would want. In fact, it might be the most wild George Jones account of them all, with a big payoff awaiting us all at the end. Let’s just call it “The George Jones Drug Tapes.”
Whether you’re a weekender or a full timer in classic country music, you must have at least a cursory notion of the incessant battles George Jones fought with alcoholism and drug abuse throughout most of his career. Along with the nickname “The Possum,” George was also known by many as “No Show Jones” for the amount of appearances booked that he ultimately wouldn’t arrive at for one reason or another. In 1979 alone, George Jones missed a total of 54 scheduled appearances, and it was mostly tied to the same benders that had George’s significant others regularly hiding the keys from him, and locking him in the house.
George Jones was first institutionalized in 1967 in a neurological hospital for abuse of alcohol and amphetamines. This was about the time of the first lawnmower incident, when he was still married to Shirley Ann Corley. In October of 1970 when he was married to Tammy Wynette and she had just given birth to the couple’s only child Georgette, papa George had to be straightjacketed and was admitted to the Watson Clinic in Lakeland, Florida, and spent 10 days detoxing in a padded cell in the facility. He was later prescribed the sedative Librium to help even him out.
And these were some of the more mild and early incidents in the George Jones legacy of wrestling with his demons. In fact at the time, he was riding high in his professional career, and the psychotic moments were just detours on the way to his Hall of Fame legacy. George Jones was scoring big hits with songs like “Walk Through This World With Me” and “A Good Year For The Roses.” His biggest commercial peak was still to come though, as was his biggest struggles with alcohol and substance abuse, which would eventually lead to two international drug smugglers standing in front of a federal magistrate, and offering up a box of unreleased George Jones master tapes as bond collateral.
David L. Snoddy and Donald E. Gilbreth were partners in both the music business, and the drug business back in the early 80’s. They were riding high until 1983 when they were indicted and arrested on drug charges by federal agents in Louisiana for the attempted purchase, possession, and distribution of over 40,000 pounds of marijuana. Case number 2:83-cr-541, USA vs David L. Snoddy and Donald E. Gilbreth, was presided over by U.S. Magistrate Judge Ronald A. Fonseca, who set bond for the drug smugglers and music tycoons at $1 million dollars.
The problem for Snoddy and Gilbreth is that neither had $1 million dollars at that time. But what they did have—or claimed to have—was a box full of unreleased and unheard George Jones tapes containing five reel-to-reel masters with 35 total songs performed live. The defendants produced an expert appraiser who said the tapes were worth about $1.2 million dollars at the time. The appraiser vouched in 1984, quote, “You need to keep in mind that these albums will continue to grow in worth because of the legend of George Jones. As time goes on, he will not be recording forever, but the legend lives on.”
And this was true. When George Jones died on April 26th, 2013, that was the end of the road for The Possum’s recorded output. Where some artists will horde unreleased material in an archive in the unfortunate event of their passing, or perhaps labels will do the same—holding unreleased songs in their vaults for decades—that wasn’t the case with George Jones. And in the early 80’s when these tapes were offered up for collateral by David Snoddy and Donald Gilbreth, George Jones was one of the hottest things in country music, and was enjoying a late career resurgence.
Just as the 80’s decade was getting started, George Jones released the landmark song “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” written by Bobby Braddock and Curly Putnam. Though Jones himself initially didn’t care for the song, and told his producer Billy Sherrill who brought it to him, quote, “Nobody’ll buy that morbid son of a bitch,” George Jones was flat out wrong. “He Stopped Loving Her Today” is now considered by many as the greatest country song of all time.
It became a #1 hit, won a Grammy, and won the CMA Song of the Year in 1980, and in 1981. Yes, the song was so highly regarded, it won the same award in consecutive years. The song has since been entered into the Library of Congress to the National Recording Registry. It was also the first George Jones #1 song in six years, and revitalized his career.
In the early 80’s, George Jones would have numerous other hits, including a #1 for “Still Doin’ Time” in 1981, and “I Always Get Lucky With You” in 1983. George Jones got to #8 with a song that would later become one of his signature tracks, “If Drinkin’ Don’t Kill Me (Her Memory Will).” And at about the time drug dealers David Snoddy and Donald Gilbreth were standing in front of Magistrate Judge Ronald Fonseca, pleading their case that their box of George Jones tapes was worthy collateral, George Jones was climbing the charts with the song “Tennessee Whiskey” written by Dean Dillon and Linda Hargrove that had initially been recorded by David Allan Coe, and would go on to launch the career of Chris Stapleton nearly 30 years later when he would perform it with Justin Timberlake on the 2015 CMA Awards.
Lucky for Snoddy and Gilbreth, the judge bit hard on the idea that the George Jones tapes were worth seven figures, and the two drug smugglers were out of jail, at least for the moment. The judge didn’t even listen to the tapes at the time to confirm their authenticity, or to check if there was even any music on them at all. A note from the court accompanying the tapes reads, quote, “The above exhibits were not played by the undersigned magistrate, and the songs contained on said tapes were not verified,” unquote.
But where did the George Jones drug tapes come from, what’s on them, when were they recorded, and how did they become the legal possession of two drug dealers where they could use them in exchange for cash bond? That’s where Nashville-based booking agent and producer Jimmy Klein comes into the picture. Before the George Jones Drug Tapes could be used for collateral, Jimmy Klein had to sign an affidavit affirming that Donald Gilbreth was the rightful owner of the tapes, and that Klein had been the rightful owner of the tapes previously so that he had the right to sign ownership over. But where did Jimmy Klein get the tapes?
Jimmy Klein was the booking agent for George Jones and fellow Hall of Famer Connie Smith in 1966. This is when the George Jones Drug Tapes were allegedly recorded. It is believed that George Jones and his backing touring band called The Jones Boys walked into the Nugget Studios in Goodlettsville, Tennessee, and cut 35 songs live to tape. Why exactly they recorded the songs has yet to be confirmed, though taking clues from the collection of recordings, the fact that Jones cut them with his touring band and not session musicians which was the custom at the time, the recordings were likely for a radio special, or some other promotional use.
It wouldn’t be unusual in country music in the mid to late 60’s to make such tapes. Jimmy Klein and Donald Gilbreth acted as the producers for the recordings—that’s Donald Gilbreth, who along with David Snoddy, owned World-Wide Records, which along with being a musical operation, may have worked as a front in the drug smuggling business. But for whatever reason, the results of the Nugget Studios sessions with George Jones and The Jones Boys were never broadcast, never released, and ended up hanging out in the same box they continue to be in today.
How did Jimmy Klein obtain rightful possession of the recordings as opposed to the estate of George Jones? That’s another question. Along with being a booking agent and producer, Jimmy Klein later became a partner in the music business with the drug kingpens David Snoddy and Donald Gilbreth. Jimmy Klein swore that in 1982, George Jones signed an affidavit affirming Jones legally surrendered all rights to the 1966 Nugget Studios recordings to him and Donald Gilbreth, which considering the state George Jones was in during 1982, is not an entirely implausible scenario.
The resurgent success George Jones enjoyed in the early 80’s didn’t vanquish his demons, it fueled them, and 1982 was the year he hit his lowest of lows, even as his music was experiencing the highest of highs. Early in 1982 is when George Jones first fell into major trouble with the law when he was pulled over in Mississippi, and was arrested for driving under the influence and possession of cocaine. Then while driving to his home in Muscle Shoals, Alabama on March 29th, 1982, George Jones wrecked his car, and was hospitalized in Birmingham where he was later treated for alcoholism and drug abuse. But soon after he was discharged, The Possum relapsed again, which resulted in maybe the most high-profile wild moment of his career.
On Tuesday, May 25th, 1982, George Jones was observed by a Tennessee Highway Patrol officer swerving in and out of lanes on Interstate 65 south of Brentwood, coming from Nashville. Officer Tommy Campsey tried to pull Jones over, who continued to drive down the interstate, not exactly attempting to evading arrest, but more just not seeming to care. Jones finally did pull over, and a half empty bottle of whiskey was found in the car. Jones also didn’t have a license plate on the car at the time. Instead, he simply had a piece of cardboard stuck where the license plate was supposed to be that read, “Possum #3.”
Also, just as Jones was being pulled over and arrested at about 7:00 p.m., the camera crew for a local news channel happened to be driving by. Recognizing the country superstar, the camera crew stopped to record the incident. Jones would have none of it, insisting he wasn’t drunk, and tried to kick the cameraman in the groin.
Jones was later taken to the Williamson County Jail in Franklin where he was held on $500 bond, and “Possum #3” was impounded. So is it plausible that in 1982 as George Jones was burning through money on booze and cocaine binges that he signed away his rights to the master tapes first recorded in 1966 at Nugget Studios by Jimmy Klein in exchange for drugs or something else? It most certainly is, though we don’t know for certain.
But that’s not the end of the road for the convoluted chain of custody for the George Jones Drug Tapes. Drug smugglers David Snoddy and Donald Gilbreth eventually were found guilty of their crimes in 1986 and sent to prison, which also meant that their bond was cancelled, and the collateral was no longer the property of the government. A judge ordered possession of the tapes to be returned to Donald Gilbreth. This is where the lineage of the tapes takes a strange turn. After Donald Gilbreth’s conviction in 1986, his attorney went to the court vault to retrieve the tapes. Gilbreth’s lawyer even signed for them, and court records show the court relinquished possession. But nearly 30 years later, in 2014, when a Louisiana federal court clerk was going through a bank vault in New Orleans, he found the box of tapes still in the possession of the federal court.
This began a legal process that is still yet to be completely untangled. When the tapes were discovered, the rightful owner Donald Gilbreth was dead, and his partner David Snoddy was still in prison. So a search for the heirs of Donald Gilbreth ensued to deliver the tapes to their rightful owners. Legal notices were posted in local newspapers, the court attempted to track down blood relatives. Eventually the son of a woman that was once married to Donald Gilbreth came forward claiming ownership, but then David Snoddy was released from prison, and claimed ownership himself.
What happened later is sort of a mess of names and dates and legal filings, but long story short, eventually the George Jones Drug Tapes ended up in the possession of a court appointed attorney named Dwayne Maddox, who took custody of the the tapes, and has them locked in a safe deposit box near his office in Tennessee. Very likely, half of the ownership will go to David Snoddy, and the other half will go to rightful heirs of Donald Gilbreth, if or when they’re ever located.
Complicating matters even more, after SavingCountryMusic.com and other outlets reported on the George Jones Drug Tapes in May of 2020, the sons of George Jones and his second wife Shirley Ann Corley came forward to sue multiple defendants in the United States District Court of Middle Tennessee for what they claim is performance rights owed for the tapes. The lawsuit explains that Bryan and Jeffery Jones are entitled to half the songwriting rights of the catalog of George Jones while he was married to Shirley Ann Corley, per the couple’s divorce agreement.
Since the George Jones Drug Tapes were recorded in 1966 when Jones was still married to Shirley Ann, they may fall under the divorce agreement’s stipulations. But if George Jones signed all of his rights away, maybe the don’t. It’s yet another matter for the courts to decide in the convoluted case. Meanwhile, no money has been made off the tapes just yet, and nobody has even verified if there’s any music on the tapes at all, or what kind of condition that music might be in.
However, the lawsuit by the sons of George Jones did expose the public to a bit more information on what might be on the tapes, if they haven’t been a scam the whole time. According to the lawsuit, the collection constitutes eight reel-to-reel master recordings identified as “Album #2, Album #3, Album #4, and a fourth unnamed project containing ten song masters, including but not limited to recordings of the songs “Jonesy,” “I’m Ragged But Right,” “Open Pit Mine,” “I Can’t Change Over Night,” “Wrong Number,” and “Ship of Love.”
So the next question everyone has is if the public will ever get the opportunity to hear what’s on these master tapes. With the money that is potentially to be made by releasing the music commercially, the answer is that once all of the legal wrangling has taken place, it’s very likely the songs will be released in some capacity.
In truth, much of what is likely to be on the tapes is live studio renditions of stuff the public has already heard from George Jones before. Perhaps there’s an offhand chance of a song or two we haven’t heard, or maybe a cover song that there’s not a George Jones recording of already. Or who knows, maybe we’ll hit the jackpot, and there’s an unreleased album of mostly original songs sitting in the box, or maybe multiple of them. We’ll just have to wait and see. The truth is, in the age of streaming, depending on what the songs end up being, they may not be worth a million dollars anymore.
Currently still in the possession of a court appointed attorney, there is no current timetable of when the George Jones Drug Tapes might find their final resting place after all the necessary legal proceedings, and the public will finally be allowed to hear them.
But even more than the music itself, the story of the George Jones Drug Tapes is what makes them so intriguing—and arguably—so marketable, even if it brings to mind the most unsavory portions of the George Jones legacy. As much as music fans are wildly intrigued by stories such as these, they tell of the real life struggles many artists go through, wrestling with demons, and sometimes losing those fights with tragic results. The gift and grace of an artist’s creativity often comes with an incredible burden that too often manifests itself in things such as alcoholism and drug abuse. This was most certainly the case for George Jones.
On March 6th, 1999, George Jones was involved in a single car accident near his home in Franklin, Tennessee. He crashed his SUV into a bridge, and suffered numerous major injuries, including a lacerated liver, punctured lung, and internal bleeding. Jones spent 13 days in the hospital. Though the original claim by George Jones was that he was distracted by talking on his cell phone at the time of the crash, police found an open bottle of vodka in the vehicle.
Jones later pleaded guilty to drunk driving and an open container violation, and took responsibility for his actions in a press conference. His wife at the time, Nancy Jones, had been trying helplessly for 18 years to sober George Jones up. But every time, he would eventually relapse. After the 1999 accident though, George Jones swore off all alcohol and cigarettes for good, and remained sober all the way until he died in 2013.
It wasn’t just the wildness and the lows that made George Jones a country music hero to many at the time. It was also the way he persevered though his personal struggles, despite at times those struggles seeming to be insurmountable. George Jones let many down during his career, whether it was friends, family, business associates, or label owners, or ticket holders to shows George never showed up to. But eventually they forgave him. Because he possessed a voice like no other. And ultimately George Jones fought the devil, and won.
Sources
Knox News / Tennessean – “Drug Dealers Use George Jones Reel to Reel Recordings for Bail”
SavingCountryMusic.com – “Lawsuit Reveals Fresh Details on George Jones Drug Tapes”
UPI – George Jones Resisted Arrest And Tried To…
“GEORGE JONES – A Video Biography and Live Concert”
The Grand Tour: The Life and Music of George Jones – Rich Kienzle – 2016
April 17, 2021 @ 9:00 am
The transcript is a wonderful touch! With the current lack of transcripts for most podcasts, so much of podcast history will be lost to time, so being proactive in preservation is excellent. Let’s hope the distribution issues get straightened out!
April 17, 2021 @ 10:08 am
Thanks for your work and this endeavor Trigger. Gonna be good.
April 17, 2021 @ 11:02 am
Nice work sir. Keep em comin
April 17, 2021 @ 11:56 am
Trigger, great job and great story! I don’t listen to podcasts, so this is the first I’ve listened to. Sure hope they get those tapes figured out soon so everybody can hear them, even if most are versions of songs we’ve already heard. One hint, you were talking a little faster than I can listen so I slowed you down to 0.75 speed, which was a little too to slow. Maybe 0.85 would have been just right!
Thanks Trigger!
April 17, 2021 @ 12:51 pm
Yeah, I recorded this back and June, and then listened to it before I posted it and though I sounded like I was on meth. I think as time goes on, I dialed in a better cadence.
April 17, 2021 @ 12:33 pm
Bully, Bully! Fantastic! I’m ordering myself a “Possum#3” vanity plate tonight.
April 17, 2021 @ 12:53 pm
Agreed. Jones is such a character. Something about him just sucks you right in. Talented, crazy hillbilly with money. Volatile combination that guarantees stories like these, that are better than anything you could script. And to boot, that crazy hillbilly just happened to be the greatest singer in Country Music history.
April 17, 2021 @ 1:43 pm
The greatest singer in music history period, not just country.
April 17, 2021 @ 12:55 pm
I was always under the impression that the license “plate” said “noshow3” because his other cars were noshow1 and noshow2.
April 17, 2021 @ 1:09 pm
Great job on the maiden voyage, Trig! Didn’t know what I expected your voice would sound like, but that wasn’t it. Once again, great job (and ditto on the comment about the transcript).
April 17, 2021 @ 2:11 pm
Awesome job, Trig.
Would be nice for the legal battle to be settled over the Jones tapes. Even nicer if we get new George Jones music.
If i may … consider slowing your speech 1/2 a beat (not an easy thing).
Had a prof. give the same unsolicited advice. Talk & think very fast. His advice came in handy.
When gave a presentation in an Immunology course at UVM, on Apoptosis (programmed cell death), was peer reviewed, post presentation at 100%. Practiced that speech at a lesser speed (ugh) at home, but turned out the prof. knew what he was talking about.
You have a very distinctive & cool voice.
: D
(This must be like, what it was like, back in the day.
Looking forward to sitting around the radio, listening to a favorite radio host.)
April 17, 2021 @ 2:14 pm
Love it Trig and no, you don’t sound like you’re on Meth.
April 17, 2021 @ 3:17 pm
Thoroughly enjoyed it! You’re a born storyteller….lol A little thrown off and distracted during the intro while hearing my favorite instrumental from 2020 Boomswagglers #1 as background music….I had to re listen to it….lol the song is perfect for that. Looking forward to this from now on.
April 17, 2021 @ 4:01 pm
Trigg, what kind of mic are you using?
Thank you for doing this! It was awesome.
April 17, 2021 @ 7:23 pm
It’s just some mid pack Audio Technica condenser I bought years back for vocal recording that I pulled out of a sock and set up in a shock mount. I’m sure there’s worse and better, but I’ve been pretty happy with the signal I’m getting out of it, except it’s my voice it’s capturing, which always seems grating to my own ears.
April 17, 2021 @ 6:25 pm
If the tapes were recorded with his touring band, how hard would it be to track down the ones still living and ask them to verify what is on the tapes and possibly fill in some of the blanks in the story?
April 17, 2021 @ 7:30 pm
Yes, I believe a former band member is the one who THINKS that the tapes were recorded for radio spots, but couldn’t confirm for sure. There’s a chance the tapes haven’t been played for more than 40 years. It’s just a box of masters, so something could have been taken out of it, and something could have been put in it. I think that part of the story will be determined sooner than later. There’s definitely going to be follow ups to this story, and perhaps sooner than later.
April 18, 2021 @ 1:26 am
Great story ! I live a few miles from jones country in east texas and drive past there a few times a week . There are Also alot of George stories around here about him before he went to nashville.
April 24, 2024 @ 2:49 pm
Are you from Newton Texas
April 24, 2024 @ 6:45 pm
Yes I am
April 18, 2021 @ 4:24 am
Excellent transcript, Kyle!
April 18, 2021 @ 4:41 am
Thanks Trigger – I enjoyed that.
One question, in the intro you said that ‘So one evening Jones hopped on the back of a riding lawnmower and made the eight mile trek to town in bunny gear.’ Whats ‘bunny gear’?
April 18, 2021 @ 6:17 am
Probably opposite of granny or turtle gear!
April 18, 2021 @ 7:54 am
Yeah, perhaps I’m dating myself with that reference. But back in the day, many riding lawnmowers had two gears, one that was marked with a turtle, and another that was marked with a bunny. Not sure how much that’s the case today.
April 18, 2021 @ 4:34 pm
It actually is exactly the case today. I know because my 3 yr old loved getting on the lawn lowers at the hardware store and finding the “animals” to point out to me.
April 19, 2021 @ 12:50 am
Ah right, that explains it. I live in the UK, and ride-on lawnmowers are a distinct rarity here – so I just didn’t know. Thanks.
April 18, 2021 @ 7:23 am
I thoroughly enjoyed the podcast just as much as I do the website. Great job Trigger on both!
April 18, 2021 @ 8:35 am
Thoroughly enjoyed it! Liked the length too… short and sweet. Not at all what I expected your voice to sound like!
April 18, 2021 @ 3:41 pm
You do more for country music than any living person.
April 18, 2021 @ 6:25 pm
Great podcast! Looking forward to hearing more. Thank you for doing this!
April 19, 2021 @ 8:09 am
Hey, I would assume you’re not the petty type, so it’s probably coincidence… did you realize you dropped the first episode of this three days before the new season of Cocaine and Rhinestones, a season centered entirely around George Jones?
Shoot, just noticed the second episode centers around David Allen Coe’s best-known song.
Again, I’m pretty sure you’re not the type to be intentionally taking a subtle swing at Tyler Mahan Coe, for all that I know you and he have clashed a little online (I think he’s more likely to be petty than you are)… but it’s sure a funny coincidence in timing and topics.
April 19, 2021 @ 12:17 pm
Look, I’ve seen some larping about this on social media, and I am perfectly aware that whatever I say will not satisfy anyone’s concerns.
But the simple fact is that I started working on this podcast in June when it became obvious I was not going to be able to travel to the many live music events I go to each year. It was just a way to keep myself focused and busy so I didn’t lose my mind. This was the first podcast I started working on because I had just reported on the story the previous month, and I thought it was a cool story. This was before I was aware what Tyler Coe’s plans were for season 2, and there was a serious question if there even would be a Season 2 at that point, or when it would be delivered. I also chose to post this particular episode first, because as I explain, it’s a story that is going to need revisions as it continues to unfold, so it made the most sense to start with it.
Tyler Mahan Coe does not have a monopoly on telling cool stories from country music’s past. I was doing that on Saving Country Music in a very dedicated form for TEN YEARS before Cocaine & Rhinestones. “History” is its own category on the website, and I regularly seek these stories out and tell them. When Cocaine & Rhinestones came about, I didn’t start crying that Coe was infringing on my beat (not that he’s crying now, but some of his fans sure are). I wrote two dedicated articles promoting his efforts.
It was only when he took a modicum of success and then started acting like he was the arbiter of all things country and anyone who disagrees with him is fucking stupid, and then decided to go woke because it’s a way to build traction on social media that I saw his efforts as problematic. When a FAN of your podcast reaches out to you on social media to say, “Hey, I really like your show, but I wish there wasn’t as much cussing.” And your response is to quote tweet them and say “FUCK YOU!” and have all your little Twitter sycophants shame and bully that person, you’re a shameless, self-centered, and ultimately weak and sad human who I don’t representing country music. If you become the catalyst to opposing a Dolly Parton statue meant to replace one for a KKK member at the Tennessee State House, I don’t want you representing country music.
Tyler Mahan Coe is a very smart guy, had a very good 1st Season of Cocaine & Rhinestones, and I truly look forward to whatever he has planned for Season 2. I believed in him way before he started the podcast, and I believe in him now. I also believe he let a very, very tiny bit of attention go way to the top of his head. He’ll tell you he’s always been an asshole. But the stakes are different now. If you want to represent country music, be a man, not a troll. And I’m not saying I’m the arbiter of all things country music either. Far from it. But when I know I’m representing country music to the greater public, I take that as a solemn duty, not try to use it to boost my public persona, and tear others down to attempt to boost my own sense of self-worth.
I’m a writer, not a podcaster. I’ve posted over 2,000 ARTICLES since he released his last episode of his podcast. All I’m trying to do will my silly little side project podcast is share some stories I’ve been telling for going on 13 years, and offer people an outlet for such content where if they give some even mild criticism or suggestions to the efforts, they’re not told to go fuck themselves. Because that ain’t country.
April 19, 2021 @ 12:43 pm
I figured that was the case. Like I said, petty seems more his style than yours.
I don’t mind that he’s an asshole, it amuses me, but I totally understand why that turns some people off and I don’t fault them for it.
I’m more amused by the coincidental timing than anything else. It’s kinda like you put the whole interaction between yourself and Coe behind you, and fate intervened to bring it to the surface in the most obnoxious way possible. I know that’s no fun for you, but I can’t help but laugh about it.
April 19, 2021 @ 1:01 pm
I understand that you are being humble here, but the two episodes that you have released so far are very good and entertaining. Nothing silly about it.
April 19, 2021 @ 9:11 pm
Thanks Oyster. I am pouring my heart into each episode.
April 19, 2021 @ 6:38 pm
Isn’t TMC doing a podcast about George Jones?
May 30, 2021 @ 11:51 am
The problem with these tapes is they are not unknown and unheard. They first appeared on three LP albums Aura A 1017 issued 1983, “How I Love Them Old Songs”, Aura A 1027 issued 1983, “Pure Country”, Intermedia QS 5044 issued 1983, “I Can’t Change Overnight”, and Snoddy and Gilbreth’s label World Wide WRI 1200 issued 1983, “Sings Hank Williams & Other Great Country Hits”. They were reissued on other budget labels, and have been reissued since on countless compilations throughout the world ever since.
May 30, 2021 @ 3:41 pm
The tapes this story is about have been in the constant possession of the court since the early 80’s. That doesn’t mean that other recordings from George Jones owned by Snoddy and Gilbreth haven’t been released, or that there isn’t some overlap from what has been heard or released, and these tapes. We just don’t know. There’s definitely a chance they’re duplicates. There’s a chance the entire thing was a fraud and the tapes are blank.
November 16, 2021 @ 7:12 pm
I would tend to agree with Phil Watson’s comment. I believe these recordings have been released on any number of licensed compilations of Jones music. The familiar titles of “Jonesy” (an instrumental), “I’m Ragged But Right,” “Open Pit Mine,” “I Can’t Change Over Night,” “Wrong Number,” and “Ship of Love” have all been released on various collections. These recordings all sound like demos with sparse instrumentation and clearly were not meant to be released as albums. It would seem prudent to have the tapes restored so they could be played to determine exactly what is there if anything. The recordings could then be compared to the aforementioned releases to see if they match up. To me, this should be done before any more costly legal battles are pursued and would certainly help determine the value (if any) of the recordings.