Critics, fans, and peers have all called George Jones the greatest country singer of all time. His story is woven out of the richest American fabric: He was born to a God-fearing mother and booze-loving father in East Texas, one of eight children who grew up in the kind of poverty written about in many a country song. Whether he was singing hymns with a husband-wife evangelical team at ten, gigging in Beaumont's rowdy honky-tonks at nineteen, producing spectacular, bestselling duets with Tammy Wynette at forty, or receiving the Kennedy Center Honors at seventy-seven, music and music alone drove him.His voice--raw, emotive, and passionate--made him a star and an influence on other singers. But as his star ascended, Jones wrestled with the demons that plague many artists--alcohol, divorce, drugs, debt, arrests, and violence. In this definitive biography, called by critics unflinching and dazzling, country music critic and historian Rich Kienzle paints a rich portrait of a modest man who overcame his darkest moments to create a lasting legacy.
