From the creator of the acclaimed country music history podcast Cocaine & Rhinestones, comes the epic American saga of country music’s legendary royal couple—George Jones and Tammy Wynette.
By the early 1960s nearly everybody paying attention to country music agreed that George Jones was the greatest country singer of all time. After taking honky-tonk rockers like “White Lightning” all the way up the country charts, he revealed himself to be an unmatched virtuoso on “She Thinks I Still Care,” thus cementing his status as a living legend. That’s where the trouble started. Only at this new level of fame did Jones realize he suffered from extreme stage fright. His method of dealing with that involved great quantities of alcohol, which his audience soon discovered as Jones more often than not showed up to concerts falling-down drunk or failed to show up at all. But the fans always forgave him because he just kept singing so damn good. Then he got married to Tammy Wynette right around the time she became one of the most famous women alive with the release of “Stand by Your Man.”
Tammy Wynette grew up believing George Jones was the greatest country singer of all time. After deciding to become a country singer herself, she went to Nashville, got a record deal, then met and married her hero. With the pop crossover success of “Stand by Your Man” (and the international political drama surrounding the song’s lyrics) came a gigantic audience, who were sold a fairy tale image of a couple soon being called The King and Queen of Country Music. Many fans still believe that fairy tale today. The behind-the-scenes truth is very different from the images shown on album covers.
Illustrated throughout by singular artist Wayne White, Cocaine & Rhinestones is an unprecedented look at the lives of two indelible country icons, reframing their careers within country music as well as modern history itself.
"Superb. . . . A work of cultural anthropology with an uncommon sweep. The book isn’t just about Jones and Wynette; it’s the story of the worlds they came from, and the world they made."
"Have you been waiting for the one book that details the towering achievements and cringe-making catastrophes of the couple known as the King and Queen of Country Music? Were you also hoping for entire chapters on pinball machines, bullfighting, drag shows and the evolution of cowboy boots—as well as the poetry of William Blake and the exploits of Buffalo Bill? Look no further than Tyler Mahan Coe’s Cocaine and Rhinestones. . . . A beautiful, barmy book."
"Coe brings the perspective of an industry insider and a scholarly attention to detail to the genre that molded him. . . . Fans of country music can now saddle up with Cocaine and Rhinestones for a ride through the shadowy past of shady recording-biz hawks, pinball addicts, and honky-tonk performers who were willing to risk everything for fame."
“A gifted storyteller with vast cultural knowledge, Coe has given readers not just a map, but a true treasure.”
