Maps of Music

We Go Together (1971)

Where the lyrics of We Go Together take you, and where it was really made.

George Jones paid $300,000 to break one contract so he could join Epic, and his first album there was made with his wife, Tammy Wynette.

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We Go Together is the first studio album by American country music artists George Jones and Tammy Wynette
Released October 18, 1971 on the Epic Records label
Jones's first album with Epic and with his then wife Tammy Wynette
Jones's first album with producer Billy Sherrill

The couple had been married since 1969 and toured together for years, but contract limits kept them from recording together
Tammy had sung backup on a handful of George's songs while he was on Musicor, and appeared on the cover of his 1969 LP I'll Share My World With You
Jones broke his Musicor contract at a hefty sum so he could join Tammy at Epic and record with her producer, Billy Sherrill
In his memoir, Jones said he paid $300,000 to get out of one contract so he could enter another
Sherrill and Glenn Sutton are seen as the defining influences of the countrypolitan sound, far from Jones's honky tonk roots
Wynette was twelve years younger and had scored hits like 'Stand by Your Man' in 1969, which gave Jones a contemporary edge
Country fans took to the fairy tale songs Sherrill brought in, and the pair soon became the hottest duo in country music
Nearly all the songs celebrate new love, reflecting the couple's new life together
Jones and Wynette wrote two songs on the album, 'It's So Sweet' and 'Never Grow Cold'
'Just Someone I Used To Know' is the one somber song on the album

Sherrill first tried recording the vocals together, but Jones's phrasing frustrated Wynette
The method changed so that Jones's vocal went on tape first and Wynette sang her part afterward
Sherrill had Jones sing in lower keys than on his early records
Jones wanted strictly country arrangements, which Sherrill delivered

Born Virginia Wynette Pugh on May 5, 1942, in Itawamba County, Mississippi.
Raised by her mother, stepfather and maternal grandparents; picked cotton on the family farm as a child.
Married Euple Byrd at age 17; divorced in 1965.

Moved to Nashville in 1966 and signed with Epic Records, produced by Billy Sherrill.
Debut single "Apartment No. 9" (1966) reached number 44 on the US country chart.

Twenty singles topped the US country chart, including "Stand by Your Man" and "D-I-V-O-R-C-E".
Joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1969 and won two Grammy Awards.
Recorded numerous duets with George Jones before their divorce in 1975.
Returned as a solo headliner and continued charting into the 1980s.
Collaborated with KLF on "Justified and Ancient" (1991) and with Loretta Lynn and Dolly Parton on Honky Tonk Angels (1993).
Died April 6, 1998, in Nashville at age 55.

Estimated 30 million records sold worldwide; inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1998.

Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic says the album gets most of its strength from George and Tammy's easy, natural chemistry
He notes this chemistry is evident and ebullient even when the material is sometimes rocky
The duo's vocal blend is described as almost perfect in the reporting around the album

Rose to number three on the country albums chart
The first single the pair released together, a 1965 Jones song called 'Take Me', became a top ten hit
The album was part of the period when the pair became the hottest duo in country music, touring together and selling out shows

The first single the pair released together, a song Jones had released in 1965, became a top ten hit
Jones had previously recorded 'Never Grow Cold' with Musicor, and the pair later recorded it again for this album
'Livin' On Easy Street' had been recorded on Musicor as a duet with Melba Montgomery, and Jones later said Montgomery fit his singing style even better than Wynette did
'After Closing Time' had been released as a duet single the year before by David Houston and Barbara Mandrell
'Just Someone I Used To Know' had been a hit for Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton, and Jones had recorded it years earlier on United Artists