Dierks Bentley, Tanya Tucker, and Brad Paisley will be among the stars of a newly-announced tribute concert to country great George Jones next spring. Still Playing Possum: Music and Memories of George Jones will mark the tenth anniversary of his death and will take place on April 25 at the Von Braun Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
The show, which will be filmed for television, will also include performances by Jamey Johnson, Justin Moore, Lorrie Morgan, Mark Chesnutt, Michael Ray, Sam Moore, Trace Adkins, Tracy Byrd, and Tracy Lawrence. More artists will be added to the bill in due course. Tickets for the event are available for presale now, and will go on general sale tomorrow (22) at 10am CT. VIP upgrades will also be available.
“George Jones died on April 26, 2013, in Nashville, Tennessee,” commented his widow, Nancy. “It will be ten years since he left us with just his songs, so to produce this night of music to honor his legacy is perfectly fitting. George made history and influenced artists from all genres and many of them will celebrate with us in April. The night will bring lots of emotion for the fans, our family, and anyone who just loved country music.”
The legacy of the man affectionately known as “Possum” continues to be widely felt. He arrived on the country chart for the first time in 1955, after serving in the US Marines from 1950 to 1952, with “Why Baby Why,” the first of five entries on the Starday label. All of them were Top 10 country hits, but Jones’ first No.1 wasn’t until after his move to Mercury Records, with 1959’s “White Lightning.”
A total of 13 No.1s ensued, still a record, three of them with his wife Tammy Wynette and another with longtime friend Merle Haggard, from an astonishing total of 165 country singles chart entries, 78 of them Top 10s and the last of them in 2001.
The new Paramount + dramatic series George and Tammy, starring Michael Shannon as Jones and Jessica Chastain as Wynette, has been widely praised. The Guardian’s four-star review called it an “entertaining and well executed drama,” while rogerebert.com said that the pair “exchange show-stopping singing moments and come packaged with a strong sense of passion, along with a knowing, exciting taste for sincere kitsch.”
Buy or stream The Best Of George Jones.