Country and Western superstar George Jones is coming to town; Castlebar town that is. George will be playing in the Royal Theatre Pavilion on Friday August 8 and Saturday August 9. Country legends are born, not made, and few people can claim the title like George Jones. The prolific singer has had 167 songs break the Billboard country charts, comfortably more than any other artist, and he has released a remarkable 450 albums.
There has been a recurring theme of heavy drinking throughout his musical career which is alluded to in the titles of some of his number one hits such as "White Lightning", "Yesterday's Wine" and "Tennessee Whiskey". The tales of George’s drunken binges are legendary. For most of his life, he would down a screwdriver with breakfast and spend the rest of the day nursing a bottle of bourbon. His friends and loved ones would try to bring George back from the abyss, but his thirst would always wind him up in trouble. For those not familiar with the lawnmower story, George’s second wife, Shirley, fed up one night with Jones's drunkenness, hid the keys to every car the couple owned and left the house. Jones, so desperate to keep his buzz going, found an old John Deere ride-on lawnmower in the garage and drove it on the street eight miles to Beaumont, Texas, where the nearest booze barn was located. Legend has it that the trip took something like 90 minutes to complete. Now, that's dedication.
In total, George Jones has been married four times. George’s third wife, was the late great Tammy Wynette, with whom he recorded some memorable material. George managed to find contentment and happiness when he married for the fourth time in 1983. He credits his wife, Nancy, for rescuing him from his alcohol and cocaine habits and, with his wife as his manager, this colourful character remains one of country music biggest draws. A country music story with a happy ending? You heard it here first! Respected enough to have his song “A Good Year for the Roses” covered by Counting Crows and, with great success, Elvis Costello, George Jones is also cool enough to be mentioned in a Lloyd Cole song. The mantle often laid on George Jones as “the greatest living country singer” is, indeed, well earned. The guest stars for both nights are Frank McCaffrey and Mike Denver so the line-up for these concerts is extremely strong and top-class entertainment is guaranteed. Tickets can be booked through www.royaltheatre.ie, www.ticketmaster.ie, any ticketmaster outlet nationwide or, for the price of a local call, the box office of the Royal Theatre, Castlebar at 0818 300 000; this number is operational 24/7.
