'George and Tammy': Michael Shannon Speaks on Learning George Jones Songs
Showtime's George and Tammy follows the lives and careers of country music icons George Jones and Tammy Wynette, ad played by Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain, respectively. Previously, during a series premiere press event in Nashville, the cast and crew spoke about the show and many of the dynamics it captures from the couple's tumultuous relationship. At one point, Shannon was asked about having to learn many of Jones' songs for the project, and he opened up about that experience.
"It was really incredible actually," he said. "Because I would start to mention this project to different people in my life and people that I had no idea were George Jones fans. They'd be like, 'Oh really? You're going to do that? Oh, you got to hear this song.' And they played this song. I was with my buddy Paul out in L.A. He's like, 'You got to hear this,' and he puts on 'The Race Is On,' and he's just beaming, and he's staring at me. He's like, 'Isn't that the greatest thing you ever heard?' I'm like, oh my God, I can't believe how incredible this is."
Shannon added, "Yeah, it was pretty daunting, but we worked with Rachael Moore here who recorded us and did the all-important comping and editing to make it sound somewhat feasible. But yeah, it's something you can study and work on a real long time. And it's just impossible singing exactly like George Jones, but I did the best I could."
Elsewhere in the conversation, Shannon talked about filming performance scenes as Jones, saying that he "eventually" felt more "comfortable with it" over time. "There was one night ... If you keep watching the show, you'll see later on there's a sequence where we did a big nighttime outdoor show. And that was pretty early on in the shoot, and it was freezing cold outside. And we did it over and over and over and over and over. We were out there for..." he then trailed off, noting that his co-star Jessica Chastain — who portrays Tammy Wynette — was wearing a dress that was not very warm.
Later, music supervisor Rachel Moore elaborated on what went into capturing the performance. She revealed that one the night in question, Shannon performed for about 15 straight hours. "I would beg them. I would say things like, 'Paul McCartney doesn't sing for eight hours. It's OK, I promise.' And they never tapped out. They never did." George and Tammy airs Sunday nights on Showtime.