(W&A) Bandit Records will release George Jones - Burn Your Playhouse Down: the unreleased duets, a collection of never before heard duets between Jones and his illustrious guests on August 19, 2008. The recordings range from the mid-70s with his ex-wife, the "First Lady of Country Music," Tammy Wynette to the most recent recording from 2007 with his daughter, Georgette, the only child from the union of George and Tammy.Seven of the recordings are extra songs, not included in The Bradley Barn Sessions that MCA Records released in 1994. Produced by Brian Ahern, the Bradley Barn recordings brought together superstar musicians and singers from both the country and rock world. Recorded during the worst ice storm in Tennessee history, the 1993 sessions, which took place over the course of several weeks, brought together Vince Gill, Ricky Skaggs, Leon Russell and Marty Stuart - as the core of the studio band with Keith Richards, Mark Knopfler, Emmylou Harris trading off as instrumentalists and vocalists on many of the songs.
The top players in Nashville - Eddie Bayers, Mac McAnally, Jerry Douglas, Glenn Worf, Brent Rowan, Glen D. Hardin, John Jennings, Harry Stinson, Richard Bennett and many more made the icy trek every day to Mt. Juliet, about 30 miles outside of Nashville. No one wanted to miss these historic sessions which paired Jones with an array of superstars influenced by the artist they considered the greatest living country singer. Ahern produced the classic Jones hits as an acoustic project to give the songs a different feel than the originals.
The "extra" songs which are now part of Burn Your Playhouse Down are:
Burn Your Playhouse Down With Keith Richards
Window Up Above With Leon Russell
Selfishness In Man With Vince Gill
She Once Lived Here With Ricky Skaggs
I Always Get Lucky With You With Mark Knopfler
You're Still On My Mind With Marty Stuart
When The Grass Grows Over Me With Mark Chesnutt
Three duets included in Burn Your Playhouse Down are songs not used from the Friends In High Places album sessions that Epic Records released in 1991. Produced by Billy Sherrill, the album contained duets recorded in 1988 and 1991. That album suffered from lack of attention as it was Jones' final album for Epic Records, and the duets were later added to the re-release of Jones' 1979 My Very Special Guests. The three duets contained on Burn Your Playhouse Down that were never released on any project are:
I Always Get It Right With You With Shelby Lynne
Tavern Choir With Jim Lauderdale
Rockin' Years With Dolly Parton
Dolly recorded "Rockin' Years" later in 1991 with Ricky Van Shelton and they had a #1 hit with it.
The final two duets are a "family affair." With cooperation from Sony/BMG, the Epic vaults were combed and an unreleased duet was found between Jones and Wynette. "Lovin' You, Lovin' Me" was recorded in November 1977.
