George Jones' early career was tied directly to record producer
Pappy Daily, who discovered
Jones and signed him to his local Texas label,
Starday Records, in 1953, releasing
Jones' first single in 1954. When
Starday was absorbed into
Mercury Records,
Daily continued to produce
Jones' releases for that label, and when
Daily became a staff producer for
United Artists Records in 1962,
Jones followed him to that label. By the time he signed with
Musicor in 1965, again under the direction of
Daily,
Jones was recording constantly, up to 300 some sides for
Musicor, in every style imaginable, searching for a signature sound, trying on rockabilly, imitating
Hank Williams, recording under pseudonyms like
Thumper Jones or
Hank Smith, and even tracking cover versions of country hits for mail-order record companies. This interesting pairing collects 22 of
Jones' early
Starday sides on one disc, with ten more sides from his
Musicor stay on a second disc, capturing
Jones' immense talent and restless spirit before he settled into his later role as a country icon. This package shows arguably the greatest pure voice in country music history becoming just that: becoming
George Jones. ~ Steve Leggett
