When Johnny Cash was once asked who his favourite singer was, he replied; “You mean apart from George Jones?”

The legendary Jones, now 76 years of age, played four concerts in Ireland last week, and music fans flocked to hear the man who is considered by many to be the finest country singer of all time.

Throughout his long career, Jones made headlines often as much for tales of his drinking, and carousing, his stormy relationships with women, and his violent rages, as for his prolific career of making records and touring. His wild lifestyle led to Jones missing numerous performances, earning him the nickname “No Show Jones”,

His 1980 hit; “He Stopped Loving Her Today” was voted top country song of all time in a poll conducted in 1992, and Jones won a Grammy Award for the song in 1982.

In all he had over 160 chart singles. He married fellow country singer, Tammy Wynette, in 1969 and they formed one of the best and most successful country duos of all time. They were divorced in 1975..

In his autobiography, “I Lived To Tell It All” George tells the following story about his drinking:

“Once, when I had been drunk for several days, Shirley (his then wife) decided she would make it physically impossible for me to buy liquor. I lived about eight miles from Beaumont and the nearest liquor store. She knew I wouldn’t walk that far to get booze, so she hid the keys to every car we owned and left.

But she forgot about the lawn mower.

I can vaguely remember my anger at not being able to find keys to anything that moved and looking longingly out a window at a light that shone over our property. There, gleaming in the glow, was that ten-horsepower rotary engine under a seat. A key glistening in the ignition.

I imagine the top speed for that old mower was five miles per hour. It might have taken an hour and a half or more for me to get to the liquor store, but get there I did!”

More than 1,000 different Jones album titles have been released over the past five decades, with more than 1,000 individual songs. Jones has charted more singles than any artist in any format of music.

His hits include; White Lightning; Window Up Above; She Thinks I Still Care; The Grand Tour; Why, Baby, Why; A Picture of Me Without You; Good Year For The Roses; The Race Is On, Who’s Gonna Fill Their Shoes and If You’re Phone Don’t Ring (It’ll Be Me)
He was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1992.

And there was a pleasant surprise for some local country music fans who were holidaying in Spain last week. (See MSN GALLERY. Latest Photos.)

John and Nuala Sheeran, together with James and Rachel Vaughan were staying down in La Zenia on the Costa Blanca when they chanced upon an Irish theme pub called, naturally enough, Paddy’s Point. And who should be the featured artist in this friendly taverno only Eileen Reid of The Cadets!

Eileen Reid was voted the top female vocalist in Ireland from 1962 to 1966. She had a huge hit in 1964 with I Gave My Wedding Dress Away. When Johnny Cash and June Carter toured Ireland in 1963, she was given a guest spot on the show, and the Cadets were also introduced to The Beatles when they toured. More recently she had a small part in the film, The Commitments

She would have played in Tom Tobin’s Hall here in Abbeyfeale at the height of the showband era, and would be very familiar with North Kerry and West Limerick.

She was delighted to meet the visitors from Abbeyfeale and treated them to an excellent cabaret which included a selection of her early hits. She was particularly impressed with their waltzing and their jiving, which no doubt rekindled fond memories of her own ballroom days. “Once you have it,” she remarked, eyeing up the two lads,  ”you never really lose it!”

Anyway, the buzz around Jack O’Rourke’s bar over the weekend was that the next staff outing would be to La Zenia and, in particular, to the Paddy’s Point public house and another meeting with the legendary Eileen - a return to the Ballroom of Romance, perhaps?

Watch this space for further developments.

 TRAFFIC

Traffic through the town was again heavy over the weekend with people making their way to Puck Fair in Killorglin and also the Dingle Races.

OUTING:

A reminder that a parish outing to Clare will take place on Thursday 28^th August. It is intended to visit the Burren and the Cliffs of Moher, Further details from Peg Murphy at 068-31232.

TRAIL:

The Great Southern Trail will hold two August Heritage Sunday walks. The Newcastlewest to Ardagh walk will take place on 24^th August at 3pm, and the Barnagh Tunnel to Glenquin Castle walk goes ahead on 31^st August at 3pm. All are welcome and admission is free.

KNOCK:

The annual Novena takes place on Thursday 21^st August. To book a seat contact Peg at 068-31232.

GOLF:

The President’s Prize at Abbeyfeale Golf Club will take place on next Sunday 17^th August. Draws will be at 8am and 11am.

And well done to Padraig Harrington on winning his third major title.We shall comment further on Padraig’s achievements when we sober up.

GAA:

Fr. Casey’s Minors maintained their unbeaten record in this year’s championship when they defeated Mungret by 3-15 to 0-10 on Friday evening. The intermediates were beaten 1-9 to 1-6 by Mungret. Fr Casey’s defeated Mountcollins by 2-7 to 1-7 at The Inch in a fundraiser for the Niall Melon Trust.Football; All-Ireland SFC quarter-finals: Armagh 0-12 Wexford 1-14; Galway 1-16 Kerry 1-21; Cork 2-11 Kildare 1-11. All-Ireland MFC quarter-finals:
Meath 2-9 Tipperary 0-10; Kerry 4-12 Offaly 0-9; Mayo 1-12 Monaghan 0-9 (aet); Tyrone 1-15 Roscommon 1-8;

All-Ireland SHC semi-final: Kilkenny 1-23 Cork 0-17

SOCCER;

Abbeyfeale Utd and Mountcollins played out a 3-3 draw at Riverside Park in a pre-season friendly.