George Jones Museum, Naming, & Likeness Rights Sold to Branding Company
The George Jones Museum in the lower Broadway portion of downtown Nashville has some of the best views of the waterfront, amazing facilities for all kinds of functions, some damn good buttermilk fried catfish, and now brand new owners.
Folks were left wondering what the fate of the 46,000 square foot, multi-story facility would be after the manager of the museum and a close financial partner to George Jones’ widow Nancy Jones plead guilty to fraud charges in October. Kirk West, also known as Kirk Leipzig, was sentenced to two years in prison and ordered to pay nearly $1 million in restitution tied to defrauding local banks in property loans. This threw the leadership of the George Jones Museum in question, and had fans wondering the fate of the facility.
On Wednesday, November 23rd, it was announced that the George Jones Museum has been sold to a Nashville-based investment group called Possum Holdings LLC. The principal of the new ownership is a man named Paul Jankowski, who is a former executive at MCA Records, Gibson Guitars, and other music-based entities, and is currently the Chief Strategist at New Heartland Group which works on matching brands with celebrities. Some of the company’s high-profile deals include matching up Taylor Swift with Pepsi, and Blake Shelton with Pizza Hut.
Along with the George Jones Museum and all of its facilities, the ownership group also negotiated a Master License to the George Jones name, image, and likeness that they will be able to use for branding purposes. George Jones’ name and face are already emboldened on his own brand of moonshine, and could be coming to more products very soon.
“George Jones is one of the most iconic figures in country music history. Not only did the real estate intrigue us, but expanding the Jones legacy fueled our interest in building a world-class brand,” Jankowski said in a press release about the sale. The sale price for the museum and naming/likeness rights has not been disclosed.
“I poured my heart and soul into building a premier destination for George’s fans in a way that he would have loved,” said Nancy Jones, who now walks away from the endeavor. But the question some George Jones fans have is will the new ownership group show respect for the legacy of one of country music’s most iconic legends, or slap his name and face on whatever they feel can make them the most money?
November 24, 2016 @ 10:28 am
I truly hope this is good news. It is one of my favorite places.
November 24, 2016 @ 6:07 pm
Probably bad news. Nancy seems to get in the shadiest shit.
November 30, 2017 @ 2:44 pm
My Aunt Nancy is a great woman.. Don’t talk about what you do NOT know..
January 23, 2019 @ 12:44 am
greed.
November 24, 2016 @ 7:07 pm
Actually it may be good news if the new group is truly dedicated to promoting George Jones and his legacy. Kind of concerning one of the first notes they make is about the location. Hopefully this doesn’t mean they bought it with real estate as the main factor
November 24, 2016 @ 8:54 pm
This is one of those deals that will take a few years to figure out if it’s good or not. After the George Jones Moonshine deal, I dunno if the past plan had the name of George Jones in best intentions or not
November 25, 2016 @ 12:36 am
A few years–Do you really think the “George Jones Museum” is going to exist in a few years?
The whole thing is silly.
November 25, 2016 @ 9:42 am
Best case scenario: George Jones becomes the next Paul Newman. Worst case scenario: The whole thing files for bankruptcy in a few years due to financial mismanagement.
November 25, 2016 @ 1:26 pm
The comparison is beyond inapt. That salad-oil company was Paul Newman’s vision. He was involved in the founding of the company during his lifetime, including its charitable purposes. People who admired Paul Newman were inclined to at least give the product a try.
George Jones had nothing whatsoever to do with this “museum.” I admire Jones as a singer. I don’t give a fig about this business.
November 26, 2016 @ 3:48 pm
One of the few times I think your commentary is spot on!! the museum probably wont last I’m starting to think nancy is a vulcher I’m gonna enjoy my existing jones collection and call it good maybe grow it some on amazon
November 27, 2016 @ 6:41 am
After what she did to George and Tammy’s kids, it would serve her right if it did fail, but she’s walked away from it, a conto the article. Does that mean she doesn’t see a dime of proceeds, or is she still making money behind the scenes? If that’s the case, then I say she would deserve it.
February 7, 2017 @ 6:06 pm
Not only Tammy’s children but Shirley’s children. It was hard to watch her not letting the children to be able to say good bye to their Dad. Plus his 90 old sister had to Waite out in the heat for the funeral. His blood didn’t get to have their time with him before he was buried. It was very painful.
January 2, 2020 @ 12:56 am
Good olé Nancy had an agenda from the start, the same as George Richey did. She’s an evil hearted woman who’s jealous of Georgette and hates her because Georgette represents the love George had for Tammy until the day he died, the kind he never had for Nancy. She used and manipulated George Jones to benefit her and her family. Her true colors were never more evident, for the world to see, than when George was dying and at his funeral.
January 23, 2019 @ 12:41 am
you can bet she will not go poor, shame she was in such a hurry to sell it all.
November 28, 2016 @ 1:57 pm
we’ll know the new owners of the museum are serious about preserving George’s legacy, if the lot for the museum includes parking spots for visitors’ lawn mowers.
November 29, 2016 @ 10:49 am
Why isn’t she in prison too? So she *took * care of George or kept him in a prison, she came out with a very nice retirement. I hope she gets caught.
June 17, 2017 @ 2:22 pm
MY THOUGHT ON THIS MESS IS NANCY HAS LIED ABOUT A BUNCH OF STUFF.I HAVE BEEN TO THE GEORGE JONES MUSEUM A BUNCH OF TIMES AND HAVE SEEN AND TALKED TO NANCY LOT’S OF TIMES.BUT AFTER SHE GAVE UP ALL HER RIGHT’S TO EVERYTHING THAT WAS GEORGE.TO SELL EVERYTHING THAT GEORGE WORKED FOR ALL HIS LIFE.IT IS A DAMN SHAME THAT SHE SOLD IT ALL.COULD BE THAT NANCY WAS DOING SOME THINGS THAT THE CROOKED ASS KIRK WEST WAS INTO.I REALLY THOUGHT SHE WAS A GOOD PERSON.BUT NOBODY GIVES UP ON A GREAT SINGER AND MAN AS GEORGE JONES WAS.YES GEORGE HAD HIS TROUBLES.BUT HE TURNED HIS LIFE AROUND FOR THE BETTER.IT MAKES ME WONDER IF NANCY HAD A DAMN THING TO DO WITH HELPING GEORGE TURN HIS LIFE AROUND.I HOPE IF NANCY WAS IN WITH KIRK WEST AND HIS DIRTY DEALING’S I HOPE SHE GET’S WHAT’S COMING TO HER.IF NOT THEN SHE WAS WRONG FOR SELLING EVERYTHING THAT WAS GEORGE JONES.THAT TELLS ME SHE DID NOT LOVE GEORGE IT WAS ALL ABOUT THE MONEY.REST IN PEACE GEORGE.YOU WAS THE GREATEST.
October 4, 2019 @ 1:41 pm
She tried to cut off his sons royalty money that was there’s for 50 years . She didn’t call none of his kids to come say their goodbyes. They was asked to move at the funeral so the cameras didn’t show them . They wasn’t invited to any of the music tributes . They didn’t even get a picture ??? Then the final nail was she sued Cracker Barrel and peanut Montgomery for a CD that George left peanut as his appreciation for all the songs peanut wrote for him and told peanut to release it when he was gone plus peanut wrote 80 present of the songs. . She paints a good picture for the public but I think she played us all. And greed came out in the end . But one thing that will always stick in her mind she always came in second. . Tammy was George’s true love you could see it when they preformed together in their older years . I feel for all the kids they got nothing in the end. And lost many years of family time because she didn’t want anyone to get close to him