He gave good concerts, and sang real good, with a good voice. He was a nice guy when he was sober, and when he was drunk. He'd let us kids come down and fish off his dock. He had bottles stashed all around the dock to keep them hid from Tammy. He and Tammy lived about a mile from our house. My Girl Friend lived three doors down from George. They lived on a strip of land that stuck out into the lake, and there was five or six houses there. While I saw him on a reguler basis, and was in his house many times, I never considered him a close friend, he was a good aquentence.
My senior year of high school, Our band had been invited to the Orange Bowl Parade. The High School Principal had spent all the funds on a new football stadium, and no money was left for the band to go on the trip. Johnny Cash, Boots Randolph, and George Jones, got together and scheduled a big concert to raise money for the band to make the trip. They had kids in the band, so it was of personel interest to them. They challenged all the singers in the Hendersonville area to come out and participate. Johnny Cash and George Jones took turns MCing the show. We collected more than enough to make the trip. That show was classified as one of the all time great shows ever to happen in the area. Hank Snow, Billy Walker, Roy Orbison, Loretta, Roy Acuff, Genie Shepard, and scores of other singers came out to help. The one person conspiciously missing was Tammy, and her son was in the band.
