Cocaine and Rhinestones

A History of George Jones and Tammy Wynette

By: Tyler Mahan Coe

Narrated by: Tyler Mahan Coe

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.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2024 Tyler Mahan Coe (P)2024 Simon & Schuster Audio

a master class in nonfiction storytelling.

i wish every nonfiction title was like this. deep and beautiful. it’s poetry. a modern nonfiction masterpiece.

Unique, in a good way

I bought the Audible version of this book after reading a review in the Wall Street Journal and enjoyed it immensely. "Unique" too often gets used to mean "rare" or "unusual " when it really means "one of a kind." Mr. Coe's book truly is one of a kind.

Much of the book is not about George and Tammy, and rather than covering George's early years at the beginning, that comes at the very end. There are insights into the history of myriad varied topics: pinball machines, the Medicis, Prohibition, roses, and bullfighting, to name just a few. It's a bit wacky, frankly. And yet, it works. I felt as if I were taking a road trip with Mr. Coe, a wonderful story teller,and he was going off on topics vaguely related to George and Tammy, but always getting back to the story of their lives. it made for an enjoyable and enlightening journey.

The tangents are the best

I really learned tons from this book. As my education was focused on science, this world review was a trip down a road that I had not traveled. Thank you!

The depth of Cole’s knowledge

I am a fan of the podcast, but the book was interesting on its own. The digressions are fascinating. Coe succeeds in making a popular country and western recording artist important and is unflinching in addressing addiction and alcoholism and the tragic end of Tammy Wynett. Coe displays an intimate and deep knowledge his subject. This is brilliant and strong stuff

Terrible

PADDED with long strange useless chapters on world history. The Medicis? Aztecs? Charlie Rich? Agents? Tangents on bios of other artists.