George Strait On George Jones
Friday morning, as the world learned that George Jones had passed away, one of his proteges, George Strait, was about to do some radio interviews to promote his forthcoming album. Country Countdown USA’s Lon Helton spoke with Strait about his mentor, the late George Jones: “It’s just a sad day for us in country music, and the music business in general. We lost one of the greatest singers that ever lived, and we’re gonna miss him. Fortunately, we have his music, and his music will make people happy, and will make people sad at the same time, but at least we have it, and our thoughts and prayers go out to his wife Nancy and the rest of his family.”
Back when you were starting out, did you do his songs in your show? “I did a ton of George Jones music. He was a huge influence on me and my career. He was a guy who would cut a song like Love Bug for example that was kind of a funny song, and it made me think I could do those kinds of songs too, because George Jones did it. He influenced me in many ways.”
The great thing about music is that it lives on: “Yes, that’s good, we’ve got George’s music to brighten our days, but I’m still gonna miss him. He gave me my medallion at the Hall Of Fame induction, and I’ve got some great memories being with George. It’s just a sad day, I didn’t even know he was sick, so when I heard the news this morning it was pretty devastating.”
Tell me about the Medallion Ceremony at the Hall of Fame. Why did you choose Jones? “What can you say? George was The Man. He had a crazy career, he went through the No Show Jones period, but nobody could hate him, he was that kind of guy, you loved George Jones. It’s just a sad sad thing.”
You can hear more of Lon’s interview with George Strait over the wknd of May 11-12 on Country Countdown USA.
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