Nancy Jones, widow of country music legend George Jones, Concord Records and Cracker Barrel are being sued. Earl "Peanutt" Montgomery, a longtime Jones collaborator and producer, filed the suit that claims a record he worked on with Jones was released without permission.
According to the Tennessean, Jones got in touch with Montgomery about creating an album with the Roy Acuff's Smoky Mountain Boys in the 1970s. The record was completed and Montgomery kept the original mixed version while another mastered copy was kept in a vault at Doc's Place Recording Studio, where the project was recorded.
The record was not released before Jones' passing in 2013. Following his death, Nancy Jones sold her husband's intellectual property to Concord, which also owns Rounder Records. Last year, Concord released George Jones & the Smoky Mountain Boys in Cracker Barrel stores, without any written credit or royalties going to Montgomery.
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Montgomery claims that the record is falsely being advertised as "lost recordings," although Concord and Nancy Jones knew that he had ownership of the original recordings. So far, neither Nancy Jones, Concord Records or Cracker Barrel have commented on the lawsuit.
