Hi folks, FYI - The Tennessean has daily Jones updates and related stories at the following URL: http://www.tennessean.com Here's one from yesterday which mentioned George's 40th anniversary of "White Lightning" entering the charts....proof positive that time sure does fly..... *Jones' album on hold while he recovers * By Jay Orr / Tennessean Staff Writer March 9, 1999 George Jones and his wife, Nancy, were supposed to host a dinner at his home tomorrow night for 30 country radio deejays. Instead, Jones will be at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where he continues to recover from injuries suffered Saturday when his Lexus sport utility vehicle crashed into a concrete bridge abutment on Highway 96 near Franklin. That Jones is eager to play his new recordings for country radio decision- makers is significant. Although the 67-year-old Country Music Hall of Fame member continues to have a strong fan base, which allows him to tour regularly, country radio stations have all but stopped playing his new singles. "I don't think many radio people have been invited to George's house during the last few years. This is how confident we are about the quality of his new stuff," says Evelyn Shriver, president of Asylum Records, the label that will issue the next Jones album. Work on the new album will stop until Jones can participate again in the decision-making process, Shriver says. "I don't want to do anything until George can discuss it with me, and that probably won't be for a while. I want this to be George's album. I want every moment of it to be what he wants," the label chief says. Jones' booking agent, Reggie Mac of Associated Talent, is rescheduling "22 or 24 dates" that Jones would have played through the middle of June, including an April 30 concert at the Ryman Auditorium with Allison Moorer. "Other than the Ryman (which would have gone on sale this Saturday), all the dates were sold out," Mac said yesterday. "Everybody's been very understanding, and we don't anticipate losing any of the dates," Mac said. "In a situation like this, ticket-holders usually hold on to their tickets. If they've got good seats, they want to keep their good seats." Jones normally works around 80 dates a year, said Mac, who has booked the "Possum" for 11 years. Only about 10 to 15 dates remained open for 1999. Jones would have begun his regular touring schedule this Friday at a 2,500-seat hall in Jim Thorpe, Pa. Through June, the man once dubbed "No Show" Jones was scheduled to appear in 11 different states, working three to four weekends at a time, alternating with 10-day layoffs. Rescheduling the spring dates probably will mean Jones will not do his normal West Coast run in the fall, Mac says, making that swing next spring instead. Jones' first No. 1 country single, White Lightning, entered the country singles chart 40 years ago today, on March 9, 1959. The song stayed at No. 1 for five weeks. Shriver had hoped to link the June release of the new album to the 40th anniversary. "I don't think we'll be far off schedule," she says. "That's the truth of the matter."
