The Legend of George Jones: His Life and Death

by Peanutt Montgomery

  The band was playing, and the woman I didn’t like said to everybody:

  “I’m gonna dance with Peanutt on the next song.”

  “Go ahead,” I said, but I was thinking to myself, “You do and you’ll be sorry.”

  The next song started, and she took Peanutt’s arm and started walking toward the dance floor. She laid her head on Peanutt’s shoulder. It made me madder than the devil. While they were dancing, I got my keys out of my purse and went for the door. When I was almost to my car, I looked around, and they were all coming toward me waddling like ducks. I got in the car and put the keys in the ignition. Peanutt grabbed the door handle and opened the door.

  “There’s no way I’ll let you drive this car home; you’ve had a drink,” he said.

  He took the keys from me and got in on the driver’s side. The three men rode in the front seat and the three women in the back. The woman I was mad at was sitting next to the door. I kept thinking about her head lying on Peanutt’s shoulder.

  “I want you to know that I don’t like you, I never have, and I never will. I want you to hear this from me personally, so you will know that it’s not hearsay,” I boldly told the woman.

  “Sweet Pea,” she curtly said, “You’re insanely jealous.”

  I reached across the seat and slapped her in the face.

  “Charlene, you stop that and stop it now!” Peanutt yelled.

  I hauled off and slapped the fire out of him, too.

  “You all lied to me, and now you’re gonna pay for it,” I yelled back.

  “Sweet Pea, don’t you say another word, or I’ll slap you myself,” Cook said.

  Cook only had a few hairs on the top of his head, so I reached up and pulled out what hair he had.

  Peanutt then decided to pull off the road and try to settle me down. I got out of the car.

  “I want you to behave yourself,” Peanutt said. “Now stop this mess and let’s go home.”

  When we settled down, we got back in the car, but I was nowhere near finished. I told the gal that I hated her.

  “I knew it would be like this, and that’s why I didn’t want to come up here tonight,” I explained, and then I slapped the fire out of her again.

  Peanutt pulled over to the side of the road again, and we emptied the car. He left the keys in the ignition, so I jumped in the car and drove off. Peanutt barely got in the car before I was gone. The others I left standing on the side of the road between Athens and Huntsville. I would not go back and get them. I didn’t know how they’d get home, and I didn’t care.

  The next morning Cook was on the CB radio. He was telling everybody about what happened the night before. He broadcast that I had abandoned them on the side of the road, and that they had to ride home on the back of a flat bed truck all the way from Huntsville to Florence.

  Peanutt was beyond mad at me. When we went to bed, he kept his clothes on, and I knew then that he was planning on leaving during the night. I tried my best to stay awake but being completely worn out, I fell asleep. The next morning, Peanutt was gone. He didn’t come home all day or night. He didn’t call or do anything to let me know he was all right. I thought to myself, “I know what I’ll do, I’ll get him worried.” I knew he would be listening to the CB radio in his car. I turned on the radio and then turned the volume up as high as it would go. I believed everybody in America listening to our channel would hear it. I keyed the microphone:

  “This is Sweet Pea, and I want to sell everything that Mohair and I have. I want to start with the Browning CB radio and all the equipment that goes with it. I will sell the whole works for $1000.00. I know that’s very cheap, but Mohair is gone, and I’m selling everything today, so I can be gone when he comes home. The first person that calls can have it.”

  About ten people answered all at once wanting to buy it. I had a man call me on the landline, and I told him that if Peanutt wasn’t home by 5:00 p.m., he could come and pick it up. He said, “it’s a deal.”

  “The CB radio has been sold,” I broadcast next, “but I have a house full of expensive furniture, and I’m selling all of it too. I also have several guns for sale.”

  Several people again answered immediately and wanted to buy the guns and furniture. Each time, I’d have them call me on the phone, and I would tell them I’d have to wait and see if Peanutt came home or not. If he didn’t, I’d sell all the items I promised. In about forty-five minutes, Peanutt had a friend of ours call me. He said that Peanutt was with him and wanted to know if he could come home.

  “You tell Peanutt that it’s up to him. He can come home if he wants but if he doesn’t, it will be just fine.” I said.

  In about twenty minutes, they pulled in the driveway.

  “What are you doing?” Peanutt asked. “I heard you were selling everything we have.”

  “Yes, and if you hadn’t come home when you did, it would have all been gone by 5:00 p.m. including me.”

  “How in the world could you do such a thing?” he incredulously asked.

  I was never invited by Cook to go anywhere else. That’s exactly what I wanted. I was fed up with Peanutt drinking and sneaking away from me. I simply decided that each time he ran off, I was going to take drastic measures, and I did. I had him put in jail for driving drunk so many times that they finally took his driver’s license from him. For several weeks, he had to endure education classes for “Driving Under the Influence.” I decided this was good for him and me because for a long time, I had to drive him everywhere he went. He sure was happy when they gave back his license and allowed him to drive again.

  The District Attorney in Florence, Alabama was a good friend of ours. He was a jolly fellow and a lot of fun to be around. He always got a kick out of me for being the way I was.

  One night Peanutt left the house walking. We had a disagreement over something, and he had been drinking. I thought he was probably somewhere in the neighborhood waiting for a chance to get one of our cars without me knowing it, so I decided to scare him. I went into the bedroom and got the pistol out of the night-stand drawer. I had never fired a gun in my life, but I was about to have my first experience at it. The gun was loaded with a full round in the chamber. I sat down on top of the bed and leaned back against the headboard. I fired the.45 Magnum Smith and Wesson pistol into the ceiling of our bedroom discharging six rounds. Each bullet left a hole in the ceiling about the size of a pencil eraser.

  “Oh, well,” I thought, “That’s not too bad. He can fix that easily.”

  I waited about thirty minutes, and he didn’t show up. The neighbors called the police, and they came to investigate the gunshots. I told the cops that Peanutt was drunk, had shot holes in the bedroom ceiling, then ran away on foot, and they needed to find him and put him in jail. They knew Peanutt. They turned on their spotlights and went up and down each street looking for him. They couldn’t find him but said if I had any more trouble to give them a call. I got on the phone and called Lavern Tate. He was the District Attorney. Lavern lived close enough to our house that Peanutt could have gone there. I had called Lavern many times late at night, and it would take him forever to answer the phone. This time, he answered on the first ring.

  “Lavern, have you seen Peanutt?” I asked.

  “No Charlene, I haven’t seen him. Why?”

  “Peanutt took off again, and no one knows where he is. He probably found somebody to give him a lift to Nashville. I’m sorry, Laverne, for waking you up this late,” I answered.

  I hung up the phone. I knew Peanutt was at his house. I knew they thought I was going to just go to bed and give up for the night. They were wrong. I grabbed my purse, keys, and took off for Lavern’s house. The lights were on. I went to the door and rang the bell. Lavern came to the door and opened it and when he did, I took my elbow and sank it into his big belly.

  “Move over, I know you lied to me. I know Peanutt is here,” I directed.

  I made my way into the den, and Peanutt was lying on the couch. I told him to
wake up and scoot over.

  “I’m gonna sleep here with you.” I demanded.

  “What are you doing here?” He answered.

  “Better yet, what are you doing here?” I asked him.

  “You better get some rest Peanutt because there’s work for you to do tomorrow. What kind of work?”

  “I fired your pistol and shot six holes in our bedroom ceiling. They’re only small holes.”

  “Charlene, do you realize that is a Magnum pistol? The bullets make bigger holes when they’re exiting whatever they hit,” he frantically explained.

  “How can it make holes in the attic?” I asked.

  “No, the roof! Do you realize we’ll have to put a whole new roof on our house?”

  “Peanutt, you know I don’t care! If you had been home where you belong, none of this would have happened.”

  “Let’s go to sleep; we’ll worry about it tomorrow.” Peanutt seemed casual about this because there was nothing he could do about it except get the roof fixed.

  It sounds like I am a mean and controlling woman. I am not like that at all. I was and am a woman who loves my husband, and I knew he was a better person than that. I wanted Peanutt to stop his drinking because drinking and getting drunk lead Peanutt to nothing but trouble, but with everything I tried in our marriage, nothing made him give up his desire for alcohol.

  One great day, Peanutt met a man who had more power and influence over him than I did. Only a very powerful man could get that much attention from Peanutt. When Peanutt came to know the Lord Jesus Christ as his personal Savior, he stopped drinking and quit all his other bad habits such as smoking. The Lord changed his whole life. He became a new man; he became a Christian, and he never went back to his old ways of living.

  Peanutt is today the man I always knew he could be, and our lives are so much better now. We’ve been really blessed and thank God for it all. Bill and Nancy Giles come by our business every now and then, and we can look back on all that happened and have a good laugh. Nancy says she doesn’t know how in the world we stayed together all those years. She explains that Bill will never forget the sound of that air coming out of all those tires I deflated. I’m just thankful it all changed, and we are living a peaceful, happy life. That’s all I ever wanted or ever dreamed would happen.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Virginia Wynette Pugh–

  Wife Number Three

  * * *

  Virginia Wynette Pugh (Tammy Wynette) was born on May 5,1942 in Itawamba County, Mississippi, in the small town of Tremont. She was the only child of Hollis and Mildred Pugh. Her father died of a brain tumor before Tammy turned one year old. Tammy was too young to remember him, but she was told he was a very talented musician. She would sit on his lap at the piano, and he would stretch her fingers over the piano keys. She believed that was the reason she loved the piano so much.

  Tammy’s mother was a schoolteacher and when Tammy was four years old, her mother married Foy Lee. Foy and Mildred moved to Memphis, Tennessee and because Tammy’s grandparents wanted to raise her, her mother allowed it, and Tammy grew up living in her grandparent’s home. Tammy always gave her dad the credit for her musical talents. She taught herself to play by ear on an old piano in her school’s gym.

  Folks around Tremont would gather at the Providence Church near where Tammy lived to hear her play the piano and sing. It has been said that when Tammy would sing, it would raise the hair on people’s arms and send chills down their spines.

  Tammy loved her grandparents and spoke highly of all the folks she was raised with around Tremont. She talked a lot about her Aunt Carolyn, who was no doubt special to Tammy. She also talked about her playmates, her friends, and school classmates. I can’t recall all their names, but I especially remember her talkingabout Agnes and Thad Wilson. In fact, Tammy kept close contact with Agnes her entire life. Tammy grew up with the responsibility of working around the house and in the fields. Even though it’s been said that her grandparents spoiled Tammy, they made sure a work ethic was instilled in her. Like most all the other children growing up in that part of the country, she helped take care of the farm animals and worked in the cotton fields.

  Tammy loved to tell stories about her childhood days. She’d always laugh and giggle as she reminisced about how hard those times were. She once said that as a young girl, she thought that having country ham, cathead biscuits, and gravy for breakfast was a sign of being poor but when she got older, she realized it was some pretty good grub.

  Tammy was proud of her roots and loved to go back there to visit every chance she got. On one visit to Tremont, she went to a field where she once worked and made a bouquet out of cotton stalks, complete with snow-white cotton in the bows. She took the bouquet back to her mansion on Franklin Road in Nashville, placed it in a very expensive and elegant vase, and displayed it in the living room. It became a real conversation piece and gave Tammy a good reason to tell some of her cotton-picking stories. She once said:

  “You can bet your rear-end you’ll learn things from living in the country on a farm that you would never learn in a school book.”

  As she became older, Tammy grew tired of the cotton fields, the animals, and all the chores that farm life called for. It had gotten rather boring working the fields and being guarded by her grandparents. Her interests had changed. She loved to sing and play the piano, and that became her primary interest. It was time to pave some new avenues for her to take in life. Down one of these new roads, she met a young man by the name of Euple Byrd. She started dating Euple even though she had a lot of young fellows interested in her. Tammy had already gotten pretty popular around her part of the country from playing and singing anywhere and anytime she got a chance. She’d sing at various schools, churches, and a number of other places around the country. If there was an opportunity, she took it. She finally married Euple Byrd. He was a few years older than Tammy and had just gotten out of the Marines. They married in 1959. The new Mrs. Byrd thought for the first time in her life she had the freedom to do whatever she pleased. It was a little disappointing when it didn’t turn out that way.

  The first big surprise came when she found out she was pregnant with their first child. She gave birth to Gwendolyn Lee Byrd on April 15, 1961. It didn’t stop there. On August 2, 1962, she gave birth to her second daughter, Jacquelyn Fay Byrd. Tammy had her hands full. Times by now were getting rough on the young Byrd family. Euple was having a hard time finding work to do. It was hard to make enough to just feed the family, let alone living expenses. They lived in an old shack of a house with weather beaten boards on it. There was no paint on it at all. It was up a dirt road and had no heat or air, just an old fireplace. Tammy took me to that house one day. As we rode up the old, washed out road, straddling gullies in her Eldorado, she said,

  “I have lots of memories of this place you’re about to see,” She said. “You know, just seeing this house gives me the shivers, I thought I’d freeze to death in that house.”

  At the young age of twenty-one, with two baby daughters already on her lap, Tammy found out she was pregnant again. Euple couldn’t support the four of them let alone five. Tammy knew that she was going to have to do something and do it in a hurry. She started cosmetology school and got her license. Her marriage to Euple was beginning to crumble. Tammy decided that she and her girls were going to move to Birmingham, Alabama and live with the other grandparents. That’s exactly what she did and went to work in a beauty salon once she got there. Tammy got an opportunity to audition for “The Country Boy Eddie Show.” It was a well-known TV program, and Tammy was accepted on the show. She loved it, and it encouraged her to push her talents further into the limelight. She’d do shows in various places with Country Boy Eddie. This really gave her the fever to try for the big time, but she’d wait until after the third child was born. Tina Denise Byrd was born in 1965.

  Tammy finally quit her beautician job and The Country Boy Eddie Show and set out for Nashville in 1966 with her three girls. S
he was highly discouraged by her family members and friends, but nothing was going to stop her from busting Nashville wide open. She was Nashville bound and bound to stay when she got there come hell or high water, and that’s exactly what she did. After going from one record label to another and all of them turning her down, she began to get a little worried. She desperately needed someone to believe in her as much as she believed in herself. Peanutt and I were in the room at the Biltmore Motel when she came in to meet with Pappy Daily. Pappy was George Jones’ producer and owned Musicor Record Label, which George was signed to. Tammy auditioned for Pappy, but Pappy turned her down, too.

  We were in Nashville to pick up some songs for George to record the next day. Tammy came to George’s session at Columbia Studio B. She sat over in the corner with Peanutt and me, and some of the other writers who were there for George’s session. She was cute as a bug in a rug with her hair pulled up in a donut on top of her head. She smiled all the time. I found out later that Tammy had always idolized George. Tammy kept knocking on doors until one day she finally knocked on the right one. A door that would take her straight to the top of country music. She not only kept her determination to get signed to a label, but she also had a responsibility to feed, clothe, and provide for three little girls. Time and money were running out from all sources, and she was desperate by now. Tammy finally found what she had been looking for at the CBS building where she met Billy Sherrill. Billy Sherrill really liked her voice and liked Tammy as well. It just so happened that Billy was looking for a female artist to produce, and the timing for Tammy was perfect. It was Billy who gave her the name, Tammy Wynette.

  Billy signed her to Epic Records and started looking for songs. He wanted the perfect songs. He found that song when he heard, “Apartment Number 9.” They cut it and released it as a single. It was Tammy’s first hit record and stayed on the charts for nine weeks. Her next release was, “Your Good Girl’s Gonna Go Bad.” It soared to the top of the charts like a rocket. It went to number three on the country charts. The ball was now rolling for Tammy. Just about every record Billy released with her was a hit. He released six more hits, one after the other, all going to number one on the national charts. They were: “I Don’t Wanna Play House,” “Take Me to Your World,” “D-i-v-o-r-c-e,” “Stand by Your Man,” “Singing My Song,” and “The Way to Love a Man.” Her biggest hit ever was “Stand by Your Man.” Tammy’s determination paid off. The family members and friends back in Tremont could not believe that Virginia Wynette Pugh, now known as Tammy Wynette, had hit the big time.