George Jones: The Life and Times of a Honky Tonk Legend Book

In his tumultuous lifetime, King of Country Music George Jones has been two men running in opposite directions. With top hits including "He Stopped Loving Her Today," "Window Up Above," and "She Thinks I Still Care," he is the only country singer to have had a number-one hit single in each of the last four decades - the man who built a career on a voice that, in the words of one critic, "is so awesomely and elementally human that his music can be not just heard, but felt to issue from flesh and hot blood." The other George Jones is a man who for most of his career drank whiskey like water; a man who shot at his best friend, destroyed his own home in a fit of drunken rage, and once, when he couldn't find his car keys, drove to the liquor store on a lawn mower. In this exciting biography that spans his entire life, both sides of George Jones are explored. We follow him through his impoverished boyhood in Texas, his stint on the honky tonk circuit, his simultaneous rise to superstardom and descent into alcoholic hell, and his stormy marriage to and dramatic divorce from the Queen of Country, Tammy Wynette. George Jones: The Life and Times of a Honky Tonk Legend brings readers up to the present as Jones marries the woman of his dreams, stays clean and sober, and achieves the ultimate status as the Grand Old Man of Country Music.

From an impoverished boyhood in East Texas to the honky tonk circuit and the tumultuous marriage to the Queen of Country, Tammy Wynette, from a simultaneous rise to superstardom and a descent into alcoholic hell, Allen documents all the tragic turns in the singer's life, including the marriages, alcoholism and drug abuse, and missed dates. Photos.