1980s–today
A country music park in the Pineywoods.
George Jones came here to get well and to build something that brought people together. The stage still stands in the same clearing.
Along Recreational Road 255 in northern Tyler County — halfway between U.S. 69 and the Neches River — sits a pine clearing that once held 20,000 country fans on a holiday weekend. Jones Country Music Park was George Jones’ answer to Nashville: a place to live, perform, and start over among the trees.
In the early 1980s, after years of addiction and the “No Show Jones” years, George’s sister Helen and brother-in-law W.T. Scroggins found him undeveloped East Texas woodland. He first lived in a mobile home on the edge of the tract, then drew the park himself: a covered outdoor stage, ticket booths, concessions, restrooms, parking fields, and a two-story pine-log house.
Nancy Sepulvado, who married George in 1984, helped clear the land and run the operation. She sold tickets from a four-wheeler when cars backed up a mile down 255. Local people worked parking, the restaurant, and the grocery. Deputies directed traffic. Neighbors received Thanksgiving turkeys.
The headliners were George’s friends. Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash, Reba McEntire, George Strait, Randy Travis, Conway Twitty, Hank Williams Jr., and Johnny Paycheck all played this stage. Bluegrass bands warmed Thursday nights. Mark Chesnutt and Clay Walker came through as young acts.
The Joneses moved to Franklin, Tennessee in 1989. Mike and Kelly Murphy bought the park from George and Nancy in 1991 and kept shows going about four more years. They have lived in the log house ever since. The stage still stands. The ticket booths, restrooms, and concession pavilions are still on the grounds.
Timeline
From a wooded tract to a landmark
Early 1980s
George comes home to East Texas
Helen and W.T. Scroggins find wooded land near Doucette and Colmesneil so George can leave Nashville’s temptations and start over.
1983–84
The park is built
Pine-log house, covered stage, ticket booths, concessions, restrooms, parking, and a campground with gas station, grocery, and restaurant across 255.
Mid-1980s
20,000 fans in the pines
Holiday weekends draw Houston, Beaumont, Shreveport, Tyler, and Lufkin. Cash, Willie, Waylon, Merle, Reba, Strait, Travis, and the Possum himself play the clearing.
1991
The Murphys take the keys
Mike and Kelly Murphy buy Jones Country from the Joneses and live in the log home. They keep music on the stage for about four more years.
Today
A landmark, intact
The grounds are mowed, the original venue buildings still stand, and the park is offered as a rare piece of country-music real estate.
Names on the marquee
- Waylon Jennings
- Willie Nelson
- Merle Haggard
- Johnny Cash
- Reba McEntire
- George Strait
- Randy Travis
- Conway Twitty
- Hank Williams Jr.
- Johnny Paycheck
- Little Jimmy Dickens
- Mark Chesnutt
- Clay Walker