Georgette Jones Honors Mother’s Legacy on the Grand Ole Opry, Twenty-Five Years After Her Passing
Singer-Songwriter Georgette Jones, daughter of music icons Tammy Wynette and George Jones, will make her 2023 Opry debut on April 6, honoring her mother’s passing twenty-five years ago. Jones will be performing My Man and Till I Can Make It On My Own. Joining her on the 6th will be Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Brothers, Lauren Alaina, Lauren Mascitti, Wendy Moten, and Chuck Meade.
“The Opry and the Ryman were very important to mom,” says Jones. “She grew up listening to the Opry on WSM and always dreamed of having the honor of playing there. It really meant the world to her to stand in the circle and to be part of the Opry family. As a child, I ran the halls backstage along with many other artists’ children and grandchildren. I have the best memories being there not only for Opry appearances, but for award and TV shows as well. It was a big extended family environment that I am grateful to have experienced.”
When asked if her mother had any favorite Opry memories, she recounted this story. Jones laughed and said: “Loretta, Mom, and Barbra Mandrell were all sharing a dressing room. That day was Barbra Mandrell’s anniversary, and her husband Ken had just gifted her with a pair of beautiful diamond earrings. She had misplaced them in the dressing room and panicked because she couldn’t find them. She said, ‘Ken’s going to kill me, help me find them.’ So, the three country legends got on their hands and knees intent on finding the earrings. Just then, Ken knocked on the door and stepped in, and a brutally honest Loretta blurted out ‘Barbra done lost her diamond earrings!’ and Barbra responded, ‘I told you not to tell him!’ and mom just fell on the floor hysterically laughing. In the end they found the diamond earrings, and all was well, but mom always loved to tell this story even years later. Can’t you just get the visual?”
To purchase tickets to the Opry, visit opry.com.
About Georgette Jones
Known as “Country Music’s First Princess,” the second-generation country music artist performed Daddy Come Home, a duet she had recorded with her father when she was 10 years old, on the 1981 HBO program “George Jones with a Little Help from His Friends.” George and Georgette also performed You and Me and Time on the last George Jones album before his death, “Burn Your Playhouse Down: The Unreleased Duets” (2008). A year after Tammy Wynette’s death, Georgette paid tribute to her mother on Mother’s Day 1999 with the song I Hope You Knew. Georgette has carved out a performance career that includes dates at the Grand Ole Opry House and at the iconic Ryman Auditorium.
In addition to singing and songwriting, she is also an author. She wrote the highly acclaimed biographical book, The Three of Us: Growing Up with Tammy and George. The book reflects on life with her famous parents. Jones’ book also provides us with an inside glimpse at the workings of the country music industry. She considers her own life of incorrect turns while looking for true love, her need for a home life, growing as a person, and continuing in the family musical tradition.
Georgette was a featured artist in Episode 2 of Jills Veranda Nashville, a Swedish Television/Warner Brothers International Television production hosted by Jill Johnson, Sweden’s Queen of Country Music. The show is streamed on Sveriges Television AB – SVTPLAY.
In the 2022 Showtime original series about her parents, George & Tammy, Jones is given writing credit for two episodes and is given creative control over how stories about her parents’ often-tragic lives in Nashville are retold. She also appeared as a backup singer in the final episode of the series. The show is in large part derived from Jones’ book. The limited series stars Oscar and Golden Globe winner Jessica Chastain and Oscar and Golden Globe nominee Michael Shannon.
Additional on screen credits include appearances with Leslie Jordan and Olivia Newton-John in five episodes of the 2008 television series Sordid Lives as her mother Tammy Wynette. Jones sang on the soundtrack for the program as well.
As a solo artist, Jones has recorded five albums: “Slightly Used Woman” (2010), “Strong Enough to Cry” (2011), “’Till I Can Make It On My Own” (2013), “This Is Christmas” (2013), and “Skin” (2019), as well as the duet with her father, You and Me and Time. She has also collaborated with other artists, including a duet with Billy Yates, Golden Ring, a duet with Mark McGuinn, Better a Painful Ending, which appears on McGuinn’s album “One Man’s Crazy” (2015), and I Know What You Did Last Night feat. Vince Gill (2019).
Georgette has been enjoying her love of gaming and working toward bringing country music into the gaming space. Since childhood, she has enjoyed gaming. Gaming with others online presents the opportunity for her to connect directly with fans and grow her fan base.
For more information on Georgette Jones, visit the following:
Website: www.georgettejones.net
Facebook: georgettejonesmusic
Instagram: @georgettejoneslennon
TikTok: @georgettejonesmusic
Twitter: @georgette_jones
YouTube: @georgettejones
Spotify / Apple Music / Pandora
Georgette has a long-standing connection with Dr. Gerald Murray. In the early 1980s, Murray conducted her father George Jones’s personal management, concert concessions, and the business affairs of George Jones Enterprises. While riding high on the success of radio airplay, sellout concerts, awards, and record sales, Jones and Murray each received a prestigious Gold Record plaque from CBS Records and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for the George Jones album, “I Am What I Am.” During Murray’s first year as Jones’ personal talent manager, Jones won two Country Music Association (CMA) awards: “Male Vocalist of the Year” and “Song of the Year” for He Stopped Loving Her Today. Jones also received two Music City News Awards for “Male Vocalist of the Year” and “Single of the Year” for He Stopped Loving Her Today. Jones earned the 1980 GRAMMY Award for “Best Male Country Vocal Performance” for He Stopped Loving Her Today.
Since 1979, Murray has been professionally involved in the country music business at many levels, from merchandise promoter to business agent, and has had the opportunity to be the personal talent manager for other country and gospel music recording artists and celebrities over the course of his career. George Jones, Vern Gosdin, Doug Stone, Stella Parton, and Paulette Carlson are some of the artists whose careers Dr. Murray has managed.
The teams of Jones and Murray will collaborate to increase Georgette’s international creative successes and fan base.
Among Murray’s team is career music executive Tom Long. Long is a consultant to Gerald Murray Music. Long is a very successful music executive who has been involved in many Billboard chart-topping songs. He worked for major companies such as Tree Publishing, ASCAP, Sony ATV, and ran Anne Murray’s publishing company, Balmur Entertainment, during his 30-year career in Nashville. Long signed over 800 songwriters while working for ASCAP, discovered the famous band, Kentucky Headhunters, managed the band in their early years, and was instrumental in securing their first record deal with Polygram. Long helped Brad Paisley, Blake Shelton, Doug Supernaw, Mark Collie, and John Berry, among many others along their musical career paths.
Georgette Jones is currently touring across the USA, Canada, and overseas, and joins a growing Gerald Murray Music roster that includes Billy Dean, Mandy Barnett, Cledus T. Judd, Shenandoah, T. Graham Brown, Lacy J. Dalton, Bryan White, Gary Brewer & The Kentucky Ramblers, Buddy Jewell, and Jeannie Kendall.
