George Jones
Live Recordings from the Louisiana Hayride
Louisiana Hayride Series/Scena Records
Live, archival recordings can transport a listener to a place and time. George Jones issued only one live record in the United States, in 1985 (an unsanctioned live 1965 record came out in England), so this newly available collection pipes us directly to his roots at the Municipal Auditorium in Shreveport, La., circa 1956-1969.
KWKH Radio wasn’t the hushed sound of FM on a digital receiver. These recordings crackle with the energy of AM radio and a live audience of 3,800. Here, among 16 live tracks, are a 1968 recording of Mr. Jones’ first No. 1 single, 1959’s “White Lightning,” and more songs he contributed to the country music lexicon, “Walk Through This World With Me” — recorded virtually on the eve of his marriage to Tammy Wynette — and “She Thinks I Still Care.” Between 1955 and 1999, Mr. Jones recorded 164 singles that charted, more than any other artist in any popular music genre.
Leading off with the bouncy “You Gotta be my Baby” from June 23, 1956, the Hayride sessions give a glimpse of the young and cocky George Jones who was quickly rising from east Texas obscurity to becoming a star and seasoned road warrior. The CD booklet pulls no punches, recounting Mr. Jones’ bouts with alcohol and personal failures as well as the triumphs of his long career.
Six of the songs come from the same Feb. 3, 1968, performance, where he introduces band members in his own informal ramble. In “Things Have Gone to Pieces,” band members conspired to improvise sound effects of breaking glass during the song that apparently caught Mr. Jones off guard and broke him up, a candid moment possible only in a live broadcast.
The Louisiana Hayride was second only to the Grand Ole Opry in popularity among country fans, and was a fixture in many homes in the South and Southwest in its day. The Hayride series has previously issued live recordings of Johnny Cash and June Carter from its archives, which must be a treasure since the program helped launch the careers of not only George Jones, but also Elvis Presley and Hank Williams, among many others.
It’s worth adjusting the levels on the stereo to get the most out of these staticky, bass-heavy recordings. And it’s not hard to imagine listening to them on the car radio, as thousands of Louisiana Hayride fans must have done while driving through on a Saturday evening in the late ’50s and ’60s.
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