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Table of Contents
About The Book
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.
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.
About The Author
Photograph by Jace Kartye
Tyler Mahan Coe is the host, writer, and producer of the podcast Cocaine & Rhinestones: The History of Country Music. Within a year of debut the program’s first season rose from country fan favorite to international phenomenon, becoming the #1 music podcast on Apple’s charts in the US and UK simultaneously. The show remains an independent, one-man operation. A former touring guitarist, Tyler lives in Nashville, Tennessee.
About The Illustrator
Wayne White is an artist, art director, illustrator, and puppeteer. Born and raised in Chattanooga, Wayne has used his memories of the South to create inspired works for film, television, and the fine art world. He has worked as an illustrator for The New York Times, Raw Magazine, and the Village Voice, and in 1986 became a designer for the hit television show Pee-wee’s Playhouse, where his work won three Emmys. He also worked in the music video industry, winning Billboard and MTV Music Video Awards as an art director for seminal music videos including The Smashing Pumpkins’ “Tonight, Tonight” and Peter Gabriel’s “Big Time.” His life and career are the subjects of the book Maybe Now I’ll Get the Respect I So Richly Deserve and the documentary Beauty Is Embarrassing. Wayne is married to cartoonist and writer Mimi Pond. They live in Los Angeles.
Product Details
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster (September 18, 2024)
- Length: 512 pages
- ISBN13: 9781668015186
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Raves and Reviews
"Superb. . . . A work of cultural anthropology with an uncommon sweep. The book isn’t just about Jones and Wynette; it’s the story of the worlds they came from, and the world they made."
– Allison Stewart, Washington Post
"Have you been waiting for the one book that details the towering achievements and cringe-making catastrophes of the couple known as the King and Queen of Country Music? Were you also hoping for entire chapters on pinball machines, bullfighting, drag shows and the evolution of cowboy boots—as well as the poetry of William Blake and the exploits of Buffalo Bill? Look no further than Tyler Mahan Coe’s Cocaine and Rhinestones. . . . A beautiful, barmy book."
– David Kirby, The Wall Street Journal
"Coe brings the perspective of an industry insider and a scholarly attention to detail to the genre that molded him. . . . Fans of country music can now saddle up with Cocaine and Rhinestones for a ride through the shadowy past of shady recording-biz hawks, pinball addicts, and honky-tonk performers who were willing to risk everything for fame."
– Jim Beaugez, Garden & Gun
“A gifted storyteller with vast cultural knowledge, Coe has given readers not just a map, but a true treasure.”
– Kirkus Reviews
“[Tyler] is both a storyteller and a tenacious reporter, and he cuts through myth and hype in order to find truth and beauty and danger and other things that are at the heart of this music. He doesn’t glad-hand or favor trade. He’s after the real deal and won’t stop until he lands on it, until he conveys it to all of us in ways that haven’t been approached in the past. His show’s enormous success is proof that country music’s characters and history have relevance today.”
– Kyle Young, CEO, Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
Resources and Downloads
High Resolution Images
- Book Cover Image (jpg): Cocaine and Rhinestones Paper Over Board 9781668015186
- Author Photo (jpg): Tyler Mahan Coe Photograph by Jace Kartye(0.1 MB)
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