The Sordid Tale of Kirk West, Nancy Jones, and the George Jones Estate

Sometimes you hear a story in a country music song, and think it’s too sad or twisted to be true. Sometimes life unfolds like a country song, and it’s almost too hard to believe. The sordid tale of the widow of George Jones and her relationship with convicted criminal Kirk West is one of those unbelievable stories.

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When the legendary George Jones passed away on April 26th, 2013, he left behind arguably one of the greatest legacies in the history of country music. To many people, George Jones is a Mount Rushmore performer, and perhaps the greatest country singer of all time.

George Jones also left behind his wife Nancy Jones, maiden name Nancy Sepulvado, who George met in 1981 when Nancy was 34. Nancy became known to many country fans throughout the years for helping George Jones finally sober up, for being there during the revitalization his career, and for often accompanying George in interviews and appearances. Nancy was one of George’s most tireless champions, and gained the reputation for being a shrewd businesswoman. Nancy’s unwavering support for the legacy of George Jones didn’t change in the wake of George’s passing.

Nancy Jones Meets Kirk West

It wasn’t easy for Nancy Jones to continue on with her life with George no longer around performing and promoting his catalog. In August of 2013, Nancy Jones decided to put the couple’s Nashville estate up for sale as part of a greater effort to consolidate her assets. During the sale period, a man by the name of Kirk West came by to tour the home with an interest in potentially purchasing it, either on his own or with a group of investors.

Whether Kirk West ever had a group of investors behind him remains uncertain, but he never had the money to purchase the George Jones home on his own. However, through his interactions with Nancy Jones, he struck up a personal relationship with the widow, and started texting her, offering both financial guidance and companionship in the aftermath of George’s death. When Nancy eventually learned that West had no money, nor a home of his own, she began to feel sorry for him, and offered up the upstairs wing of the estate for him to live in starting in September of 2013.

As it’s not too hard to imagine, eventually Kirk West (who has also been known as Kirk Leipzig) became both romantically involved with Nancy Jones, along with becoming directly involved with the affairs of the George Jones estate by October of 2013. West was about 18 years younger than Nancy Jones at the time.

The Opening of “The George Jones”

A year after West had moved into the George Jones estate—in September of 2014—it was announced that Nancy Jones had purchased two adjacent properties at 128 and 130 Second Ave. N. in Nashville parallel to the Cumberland River, and right near the Lower Broadway entertainment district. Then on January 13th of the next year, plans were unveiled for the property that would eventually be known simply as “The George Jones.”

Along with housing a George Jones museum with many pieces of memorabilia, there was also an event space, a music venue, a restaurant, a rooftop deck and bar, and a gift shop, with it all constructed to commemorate the legacy of George Jones. Also launched as part of the business was the name and likeness of George Jones stamped on his own line of flavored moonshine and vodka, branded after George’s first #1 hit from 1959, “White Lightning.”

Along with the ambitious scope for the new property, what also was remarkable was how quickly it opened. It took only 3 1/2 months for it to open on the two year anniversary of George’s death on April 26th, 2015. The entire complex was built, finished, artifacts moved in, the restaurant and gift shop stocked, and employees trained in that time. Nancy Jones said they worked “around the clock” to make it happen.

And remarkably, they did. “For Nancy to open the newly renovated George Jones Museum, Tennessee laws had to be rewritten,” said the law firm of Bone, McAllester, and Norton, who helped usher legislation through the state government to allow all facets of the multi-use space to be allowed, including a rooftop bar and package liquor operation for the George Jones-branded alcohol to be sold on the premises.

This whole time, Kirk West was a major player behind-the-scenes of the George Jones Estate and the new establishment, orchestrating many of the plans and pushing them forward, with Nancy as the front-facing spokesperson. Eventually Kirk West was named the General Manager of The George Jones.

When Saving Country Music reached out to Kirk West in February of 2016 on a separate matter of a website selling unauthorized George Jones merch, West also identified himself as the Business Manager for the George Jones estate, saying in an official capacity, “This product is not authorized at all. They need to remove this product and never use George Jones name again or I will sue them.”

When The George Jones opened in late spring of 2015, it really was a sight to behold. Though the museum may not have been as expansive as some, it was still cool to see that the legacy of George Jones would be enshrined in Music City right beside so many other locations dedicated to country music legends. The food was surprisingly good, and so was the talent they hired to play the space. The venue became a regular place to play for traditional country artists such as James Carothers and Tim Culpepper.

The First Kirk West Arrest and Conviction

But financial irregularities behind-the-scenes soon began eroding at the integrity of the business and property. In the fall of 2016, everything began to unravel. Kirk West had lied about his income, and forged documents and pay stubs to dramatically inflate his net worth on tax documents to secure loans on properties around the Nashville area. Federal charges were filed in July 2016 against West, and he plead guilty to Federal fraud charges on September 19th.

Along with being ordered to serve two years in prison, West agreed to pay $935,045 in restitution to Nashville’s Reliant Bank. You might think that with all of these revelations, Nancy Jones would move on from Kirk West, who was quickly revealing himself as a hustler and unscrupulous business man. But according to court records, that’s not what happened at all.

Kirk West was able to get the court to agree to three years of supervised release and one year of house arrest. He ended up serving that house arrest in the home of Nancy Jones. She also paid his legal fees, and paid his $935,045 restitution bill, with West promising he would pay her back over time. Before, during, and after the arrest and conviction, Jones also paid for the pair to take lavish vacations, and bought West a Mercedes-Benz.

The Closing of “The George Jones”

Meanwhile at The George Jones on 2nd Street in Nashville, things started to go south. Some folks started to complain about poor service at the bar and restaurant. Though not being inundated with drunk tourists was one of the reasons to seek the property out, being slightly off the main drag ultimately made it difficult to draw in patrons. The downfall of Kirk West put the property on unsure footing both from a leadership perspective, and financially.

Then a couple of months later, on November 23rd, it was announced that the George Jones Museum had been sold by Nancy Jones to a Nashville-based investment group called Possum Holdings LLC. 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. The George Jones estate no longer owned the George Jones Museum and Restaurant, nor his name or image.

“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 at the time.

After the sale, some felt like the family atmosphere of the place began to disappear. Then the pandemic hit with mandatory shut downs, which put the business in peril. And then to add injury to insult, the George Jones Museum and all of its neighboring properties were swept up in the 2020 Christmas bombing of 2nd street in Nashville, which happened on the block down from The George Jones.

On December 13th, 2021, after 6 1/2 years of trying to sustain the business through a litany of adversities, The George Jones announced it was permanently shutting down. The shrine to George Jones was no more, and the George Jones estate no longer even owned the George Jones name or likeness.

Kirt Webster Enters The Chat

Yet through all of this time, Kirk West and Nancy Jones were still romantically and financially linked. To manage the music side of The George Jones estate, the pair made the very dubious decision to hire disgraced music publicist and manager Kirt Webster. Accused of rape by multiple individuals, and sexual harassment/inappropriate sexual behavior by dozens of others, Webster’s country music empire of representing a whole host of performers from Dolly Parton and Kid Rock imploded in scandal in 2017.

During a December 20th, 2022 press conference to announce the “Still Playin’ Possum” 10th Anniversary concert for George Jones that was held in April 2023 in Huntsville, Alabama, multiple individuals made sure to thank Kirt Webster for helping to organize the event, including Nancy Jones. It’s since been confirmed Webster is representing the George Jones estate.

Kirk West’s Cryptocurrency Investments, and Breakup

During this time, Kirk West also allegedly had become interested in cryptocurrency as a way to build wealth, and was using Nancy’s money to invest in XLM, DOGE, XRP, SHIB, and Ethereum, according to court records. Then around June 26th of this year, Nancy suspected that Kirk West had been cheating on her, and eventually kicked him out of the house on June 28th.

Amid the breakup, Nancy Jones called a granddaughter, and asked her to secure the contents of a safe West had access to that included cash, jewelry, and a ledger wallet containing the keys to the cryptocurrency investments. The granddaughter discovered that $400,000 in cash was missing from the safe, along with a Ledger wallet that contained approximately 5,534,307 units of the digital currency XRP, based on the affidavit.

With each token reportedly valued at approximately $2.10 on the date of the theft, that was more than $11 million worth of cryptocurrency taken at the time. The value of that stolen crypto has subsequently increased to $17 million. West allegedly told Nancy Jones that he would return $5 million of the crypto funds to her bank account, but said that was all she would get.

Nancy Jones ultimately went to the Franklin Police Department, who opened an investigation into the matter. Less than 24 hours later on July 24th, they arrested Kirk West at the Nashville Airport and charged him with theft over $250,000. His bond was set at $1 million. West is set to be in court on October 23rd.

Through this entire saga, the estate and affairs of George Jones have suffered, with his name and likeness rights sold off, and the shuttering of his museum/restaurant. In an affidavit, Nancy Jones claims that Kirk West preys on “wealthy, potentially vulnerable women.”

In the case of Nancy Jones, Kirk West also preyed on an important estate to the legacy of country music.

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