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

Rating:
Summary: can you spell "tabloid-driven" ?
Review: Bob Allen, the author of this book, was a major player in the cult magazine 'Country Music' that was in publication from 1972-2002, i believe. Allen was one of the more harsh music critics and writers for that magazine, a writer who i felt was rooted in a style that praised rowdy, southern-rock inflected country music but denounced mainstream country music no matter who was doing the singing. More than anyother writer for that magazine, Bob Allen indirectly led a wave of country listeners into protesting the George Jones songs of the Epic era, which represented 85% of the Possum's biggest hits both in sales and chart domination. Disgusted with commercial songs or songs with a good sound, Allen seemed to get satisfaction in hearing material that wasn't well-crafted or songs that seemed to flow straight from the back-room of a bar somewhere. i love traditional country music as much as Bob but i draw the line when it comes to George Jones. i'll NEVER bad-mouth George no matter what he records. This brings us to this 1984 book, one of two that surfaced during that magical year in George's career (1983-1984). a year that saw him really try and beat his drug and drinking addictions with the help of girlfriend turned wife, Nancy. a re-location to Texas and the opening of the outdoor music park, Jones Country, also kept him from the clutches of the drug-infested hangers-on in Nashville. The book is amazing in it's scope of information and coverage...i'll give Bob Allen that much because in some chapters in the book Allen rattles off huge sets of figures that George is in debt for. the tabloid-driven chapters are no doubt the most popular or the most infamous depending on a reader's view of George. but it's those very same chapters that down the book from a 5-star to a 3-star in my opinion. we don't need to read gossip and half-truths passed off as gospel from the pen of Bob Allen. In no way does Bob claim that the book is HIS version of George's career and so he's open for such criticism from people like me who were expecting a good look at George's life and times by way of facts and not by way of the author's take on situations. This book is presented like a tabloid meets a soap opera about half-way through. Calling Ralph Emery an elitist and reducing his wonderful career as nothing but "dead air" {in Bob's own words} is another example of the author's shameless and childishly annoying name-calling whenever he tries to make a point about something. In one passage, Allen says something like: "by 1980, Tammy's record sales had started to sag about as bad as her mid-section. It was obvious that it was SHE who was riding George's coat-tails". Now, what an awful thing to say about a woman, especially a legend like that. we all now know that Bob proved my theory that the success for a good majority of female singers is all in the body or else he wouldn't have made such a comparison. He blasts Billy Sherrill {which isn't anything knew for critics of his ilk} and paints him as a money-hungry producer instead of being a clever producer who took advantage of the public's fascination of George and Tammy's private life. What normal producer is going to pass up a goldmine approach of selling singles and albums? Can you blame him? The demand was there and Sherrill filled the demand with a streak of "biographical" songs written especially for George and Tammy to record separately or as a duet to mirror their private life...or at least what the public FELT was glimpses into their private life. we were like vinyl voyeurs, if you will, hanging onto every word either artist sung hoping to catch a peek at their private life through song and i'm not ashamed of it because our intentions were based on loyalty and respect...not intrusion, which many fans of pop/rock acts go over-board with. Example: a real country audience would NEVER rip and tear apart a performer's clothes or even try to...but a rock/pop audience would do such silly things to a performer. In 1994 this book was re-released with several more out-spoken opinions and speculations on George's life post-1984. He does make a valid argument that the drinking and cheating songs that George did after he met Nancy weren't as believable in the ears of some listeners because he doesn't live the way he once did. But that's not to say his songs were no good...which Allen i think is really saying given his hatred for the Epic material. The bottom line is: Bob Allen obviously doesn't know how egotistical HIS whole "version" of George's life sounds or else he would've did a massive editing job before the book hit the shelves the first time around!! it's 3-star material for people who love George Jones. however, it's a 5-star book if you're the sick type who love celebrity bashing and gossip over facts.

Rating:
Summary: george jones
Review: i liked this book better than the one written by tom carter. they are about the same,this one has more un-flattering stories in it. stories that never made it in the authorized (tom carter) version. its the most incredible biography i've ever read. a must read. don't plan on setting it down!!!

Rating:
Summary: george jones
Review: i liked this book better than the one written by tom carter. they are about the same,this one has more un-flattering stories in it. stories that never made it in the authorized (tom carter) version. its the most incredible biography i've ever read. a must read. don't plan on setting it down!!!

Rating:
Summary: Fiction and opinion, not biography
Review: If this book were stripped down so that it only told George's story, it would be excellent. But it contains far too much fiction and flowers to be considered biography. I got thoroughly tired of the terms "prodigal singer" and "snake-oil" and I didn't see why the author found it necessary to insert his personal opinions of all the characters. The narrative portions were written like dialogue without quotes. It came across as a weak attempt to sound folksy, with the true result of sounding unprofessional.

Rating:
Summary: Fiction and opinion, not biography
Review: The book had interesting content, but it could be fiction. The author only refered to sources that claimed that they had seen this or that they had heard that Mr. Jones had done that. All of the incidents were "hear say".If you read this book and read I lived to tell it All, you can see the incidents are not the same. Mr. Allen wrote an interesting book and if Biographys interest you, you should read it, but it needs to be compared with the autobiography. Actually if you would combine both books, one heck of a screen play could be developed from the contents.