Artist:George Jones & Tammy Wynette
Song:Golden Ring
Album:16 Biggest Hits
Country music legend George Jones recorded plenty of duets with female singers. But most fans will remember his duets in the 70s with real life wife Tammy Wynette. The 1976 single Golden Ring was one of their three #1 country hits. Among the singers he sang with before Tammy were Virginia Spurlock, Jeanette Hicks, Margie Singleton, Melba Montgomery and Brenda Carter. Jones had his best chart success with Melba including the 1963 top five hit We Must Have Been Out of Our Minds. And Jones claimed in his autobiography that she was his best duet partner. Jones and Tammy were still married to others when they met on tour. They were handled by the same booking agency. And they married in 1969. Jones wanted to record with her but he was still under contract to Musicor and Tammy was on Epic. So Jones bought out his contract and signed with Epic. They worked with her producer Billy Sherrill and became known as Mr. & Mrs. Country Music. Some thought that Jones and Sherrill might clash because of different styles. But Sherril has said that the only problem was he had to record them separately because if he recorded them together, Jones never sang the song the same way twice and that drove Tammy nuts. BTW, duets are frequently recorded separately, sometimes in different locations. George and Tammy topped the country charts with the 1973 single We're Gonna Hold On. The albums sold well. The big problem with the marriage was Jones' alcoholism and that led to brawls between them and the divorce in 1975. But they continued to record and tour together because fans didn't want to see them separately. The 1976 singles Golden Ring and Near You topped the country charts and so did the album. Golden Ring was written by veteran songwriter Bobby Braddock and Rafe Von Hoy. Braddock wrote the song after watching a TV drama about the life of a gun. He just changed the subject to a wedding ring. After recording a 1980 album together, Jones left Epic for MCA and was able to revive his solo career. You can get all their hits on this budget comp. Here's George Jones & Tammy Wynette performing Golden Ring on an awards show 1976.
That was very good. I normally do not like Country music. It never clicked with me. But that duet was very good. Thank-you so much Frank for posting that gem. David.
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