‘The Old George Jones’ Is Finally Back, at Age 70

Not so long ago, it would have been hard to find a betting man willing to offer odds that George Jones would be alive at 70--much less enjoying a thriving career.

But Jones, who’s survived drugs, alcohol abuse, major heart surgery and a near-fatal car crash, says he’s never felt better. His birthday was Wednesday.

“The big seven-oh!” he crowed. “It’s not a big deal to me, because I’m feeling 50.”

On one of his favorite songs from his new album, “The Rock: Stone Cold Country 2001,” Jones sounds like an ebullient teen-ager: “Got my guitar/Got my girl/I Got everything!”

The album, which is due in stores Sept. 25, also contains a duet with Garth Brooks that is sure to give it a commercial boost.

Besides his touring schedule, Jones’ catalog of country music classics is being featured four times a week in Nashville at a musical celebrating the life of the late Tammy Wynette, his ex-wife.

All this prosperity comes seven years after major heart surgery and nearly three years after that car crash.

During his recovery from the accident, his singing voice was injured by tubes placed down his throat to help him breathe.

“I’m finally right now getting it back,” Jones said. “I’ve had to almost learn all over again to control my voice and not go sharp or flat. I’m just now getting back to the old George Jones, I guess.”

That Jones is genuinely happy and healthy at long last is nothing short of a miracle, considering his troubled past.

Jones, considered by many to be the greatest living country-music singer, was born in Saratoga, Texas. He began singing as a child, emulating his heroes, the senior Hank Williams and Lefty Frizzell.

“I was copying everything he done,” Jones said of Williams. “Oh my Lord! He was God in a way, when it came to music. I still love to play his records over and over and over, and they still sound just as good to me as they did back then.”

Jones had his first major hit in 1955, “Why Baby Why.” His voice became progressively less a copy of Williams and Frizzell as he developed a vocal style that has profoundly influenced younger stars such as Randy Travis.

Jones’ stormy six-year marriage to Wynette in the 1970s made him tabloid fodder, as did his increasingly erratic behavior.

Divorced from Wynette and mired in drugs, Jones met Nancy Sepulvado.

They were married in 1983. Gradually, she helped him drop his bad habits, and he had another string of hits in the mid-’80s including “Who’s Gonna Fill Their Shoes” and “She’s My Rock.”

In March 1999, Jones crashed his sport-utility vehicle into a bridge near his home south of Nashville. He came close to death because of a collapsed lung and severely lacerated liver.

An opened bottle of vodka was found in the SUV, and Jones later admitted to drinking and driving. He was fined $550 and ordered to get counseling for alcoholism.

“Even when I had my car wreck, I had went quite a few years on the wagon,” Jones said. “This was just one of them stupid moments that you do in your stupid life, you know?

“But it put the fear of God in me this time.”

Now, Jones says, he’s finally through with drinking.

“Oh my Lord, yes. I’ve even quit drinking coffee. I quit smoking.”