Remembering the Possum: 7 Things You Didn’t Know About George Jones
George Jones‘ quirky looks earned him the nickname “The Possum.” But his mournful baritone and honky-tonkin’ lifestyle earned the singer, who died 12 years ago today on April 26, 2013, status as an eternal icon in the world of country music and beyond.
Born into poverty in East Texas, Jones taught himself to play guitar as a kid, busking on the streets of Beaumont to earn a few bucks. After a stint in the Marines, he scored his first hit with 1955’s “Why, Baby, Why” and a few years later, topped the charts with his signature tune, the rollicking “White Lightning.”
A scandal-plagued, five decade career followed, one that produced over 150 country hits — from the aching “She Thinks I Still Care” to the tearjerking “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” to his final hit, “I Always Get Lucky With You” — as well as memorable duets, a quartet of stormy marriages, addiction struggles, and numerous run-ins with the law. His legacy includes a laundry list of stars, from Randy Travis, James Taylor and Alan Jackson to Garth Brooks, Chris Stapleton and Jelly Roll, who cite Jones as a top musical influence.
Everett Collection
To celebrate the man and his redemption-story career, here are 7 fun facts about country music’s legendary Possum.
1 Jones got his “Possum” nickname from a pair of DJs
Looking at Jones’ profile on the cover of his 1959 album, White Lightning and Other Favorites, Nashville based TV and radio personalities Ralph Emery and T. Tommy Cutler observed that he resembled the marsupial. The name stuck, and Jones embraced it, naming a song and his Nashville nightclub Possum Holler.
2 It wasn’t his only nickname
Everett Collection
Jones wasn’t amused by his follow-up nickname, “No Show Jones,” even though he knew exactly why he got it and ultimately regretted wasting good folks’ hard-earned money. As both his career and his struggles with booze and drugs ramped up, Jones took to skipping shows with alarming regularity. The habit vexed venue owners, but Jones’ ever-faithful fans forgave him, and eventually, the singer changed his ways. But he commemorated that moniker in a song, as well.
3 He wasn’t ready to rock
Hoping to capitalize on the success of another singing serviceman, namely Elvis Presley, Jones’ record label asked him to give rockabilly a try. Country to the core, Jones refused, relenting only when those tracks were credited to “Thumper” Jones.
4 He told Tammy he loved her in front of her spouse
GAB Archive/Redferns
Jones was an established artist when he began working with country music ingenue Tammy Wynette, who was married with three kids. Visiting Wynette’s home for dinner one night in ’68, Jones interrupted a spat between the couple by flipping the table, declaring his love for Tammy, and spiriting his girl and the kids away. The couple married in 1969, began recording music together, and welcomed daughter Tamela Georgette a year later. Their professional relationship outlasted their marriage and the pair divorced in 1975.
5 George drove a lawn mower to get a drink … more than once
The first time Jones drove a lawn mower in order to get booze was during his first marriage. He was already on the road to addiction, so his current wife Shirley often hid their car keys. To get his fix, Jones hopped on the mower and headed for the liquor store.
Some years later, Jones hopped a mower again and headed for the bar. “I got into the car and drove to the nearest bar, 10 miles away,” Tammy recalled. “When I pulled into the parking lot, there sat our rider-mower right by the entrance. He’d driven that mower right down a main highway. He looked up and saw me and said, ‘Well, fellas, here she is now. My little wife — I told you she’d come after me.’”
6 He opened a series of theme parks
Jim McGuire/TV Guide/courtesy Everett Collection
The first, George Jones Rhythm Park in Texas, flamed out when No Show Jones no-showed on his own endeavor. The next, Old Plantation Theme Park, was built on his and Wynette’s Tennessee estate. His final park, Jones Country Music Park, operated in the mid-’80s.
7 He hated one of his biggest hits
It would become one of his signature songs, but Jones considered his 1980 Bobby Braddock-penned smash “He Stopped Loving Her Today” morbid and predicted no one would buy it. It earned him another gold record.
Remind 
Kings Of Country
March 2022
From outlaws Willie & Waylon to the Man in Black, Johnny Cash, we have every tear in your beer covered
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