One of the greatest country singers of all time, George Jones was well-known for his struggles with drugs and alcohol. The man nicknamed The Possum, was also called No Show Jones due to his failure to show up for concerts. At one point, there were 200 lawsuits pending against him due to missed shows.
And yet, millions of devoted fans loved him anyway. There was something special about the man with the golden voice who gave us iconic songs like “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” “White Lightning,” “The Race is On,” “She Thinks I Still Care,” “Golden Ring,” “Grand Tour,” “Choices,” and more.
Perhaps no one understood that more than Nancy, his wife of more than 30 years. She’s long been credited for helping him turn his life around, but the true story of what it took to help him get there has never been told, until now.
Ten years after his death, Nancy Jones, along with noted author Ken Abraham, has written “Playin’ Possum,” a book that details the more than three decades she and George shared together.
“It’s a truthful book,” she says, “and that’s what I wanted to put out. There are so many things out there about George, some of them are true and some of them are not. And I wanted the world to know he was a very sweet person. And he couldn’t help the demons that got in there and made a home inside him.”
The book is full of behind-the-scenes stories (and photos) involving his music career, accounts of how he ended up recording some of those famous songs, his interactions with friends and fellow musicians like Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Alan Jackson, and others, and how he and Nancy went to Tammy Wynette’s home after her death to show support. It shares the correct version of that infamous story involving George and how, when they took away his car keys, he hopped on a tractor to make his way to the liquor store. There are also some things most people haven’t heard before, such as how George was supposed to be on be on the ill-fated flight with Patsy Cline, until Cline refused to let him on the plane.
“Playin’ Possum” also details the depths of his battle with cocaine and alcohol, and its effect on his and Nancy’s relationship which often included domestic violence.
Co-author Ken Abraham admits he didn’t know about the abuse until he began helping Nancy write the book.
“I didn’t know some of the things that had happened earlier in her life with George. I knew she turned his life around; I knew she was important in his business, but I didn’t know how badly he treated her. I didn’t know the price tag she paid to do that, with the abuse and other things that were part of George’s early experience.
Nancy grappled with how much of that to share in the book.
“I did a lot of crying and a lot of soul-searching,” she says. “And I told Ken I hope I’m not telling too much. And he said no, you’re doing great.”
In the book, Nancy admits people might wonder, with so much domestic abuse, why she didn’t leave. Abraham explains it this way.
“If you came up to her today and said my husband isn’t treating me right, she would say get out of there as fast as you can. But she felt it was incumbent on her to stay because she knew there was a better George inside when he wasn’t doing cocaine and drinking. And even more than that, she felt a spiritual obligation that’s almost hard to explain, but she felt deep down inside. She knew God had her there for a reason.”
Everything changed in 1999, after George almost died in that much-publicized car accident. He was driving, while also talking on the phone with Nancy’s daughters, trying to play them his new song “Choices” when something happened with the audio, and he couldn’t get the song to play properly. Agitated, while still on the phone and fumbling with the controls, he slammed head-on into a concrete bridge. Nancy got the call within minutes and rushed to the scene.
“First of all, George didn’t believe in seatbelts,” she says. “I used to tell him all the time if you ever have a wreck, you won’t get out of it. So, when he hit that bridge, his body flung forward under the steering wheel and the dashboard, and he was trapped underneath. They had to use the jaws of life to get him out. It was awful.”
They transported him to Vanderbilt Hospital by helicopter and Nancy was later told he “died” twice on the way. Once she arrived, she was greeted by a doctor who told her there was nothing they could do.”
“I said what do you mean? And the doctor told me George wasn’t going to make it. And I said, listen, you’re sitting here talking to me when you could be in there trying to save his life, so get in there!”
George did survive and although it would be a long, difficult road ahead, he eventually recovered. After he came home, Nancy describes in the book, hearing him talk out loud to God one day, promising if God let him get over this, he’d never drink or smoke again, and would become the perfect husband. George made good on his promise.
As Nancy says in the book:
From 1999 to 2013, I got my husband back, a husband I should have had to begin with, a man who trusted God with his strengths and his weaknesses, making him the strongest man I’d ever known. At last, George Jones was a man who wanted to live.
The book goes on to recount many experiences throughout their more joyful life together for the next 14 years, until his death in April of 2013. She shares the funny and generous side of George, as well as many other positive memories, such as time spent with George’s good friends, many of them younger artists like Alan Jackson, Randy Travis, and Brad Paisley.
George sensed something special in them and wanted to encourage them.
“We’d go out to eat with Alan Jackson before he got big, and he loved George,” Nancy recalls. “We’d be out in the parking lot talking, and fans would come up to get George’s autograph and he would say, ‘You don’t want my autograph, you need to get this boy right here. He’s gonna be big!”
There were older friends, too. People like Johnny Cash and Waylon. Abraham notes the three men shared a special bond.
“Johnny and Waylon, of course, were some of George’s best friends. They all went through troubles and struggles and all three of those guys came out on the other side. Let’s be honest,” he says with a laugh, “all thanks to a good woman and the good Lord.”
More recently, Nancy has had her own health struggles which she also recounts in the book. In August of 2021, she caught COVID and was hospitalized with doctors insisting she go on a ventilator. With the help of her business manager, she refused. She believes it saved her life.
While hospitalized, however, an infection settled into her lungs. For the next several months she remained in ICU, battling a fungus that eventually led to a 70 percent loss of her lung power. She still struggles to breathe and is just now getting back to being able to have a conversation without the help of oxygen.
As she regains her health, it’s important to Nancy to continue honoring her husband’s legacy. Earlier this year, 32-country artists gathered in Alabama for a George Jones tribute concert that was recorded and will be shown in theaters on October 17th. (For more information visit https://www.fathomevents.com/)
Nancy chose to release “Playin’ Possum” on September 12th in honor of George’s birthday. She marked the event with a pre-evening celebration at her home in Franklin, Tennessee, complete with birthday cake.
Nancy says she’ll continue to keep George’s memory alive through his music and the book.
“I’ll continue to make sure his music is out there for people because he loved country music. But I also want people to know George was a spiritual person. This book is really about how you can get so deep in there with those demons, but they can come out of you, if you believe, and you put your hand out every now and then, and reach out for the good Lord. He’s right there waiting for you.”
Read the full article here