Country music has lost a legendary musician, singer and songwriter this week. The great Don Adams, known as one of George Jones’s “Jones Boys” and a longtime member of Johnny Paycheck’s band passed away.
Editor’s Note: This article is a contribution by journalist and photographer Kevin Smith. Country music has lost a legendary musician, singer and songwriter this week. The great Don Adams, known as one of George Jones’s “Jones Boys” and a longtime member of Johnny Paycheck’s band The Lovemakers passed away on February 1, 2026 in his hometown of Greenfield, Ohio. He had been battling cancer off and on for a couple of years. Don Adams and his brothers Roland “Arnie” Adams and Gary Adams are also well remembered for their appearances on multiple episodes of the Mike Judge Cinemax series Tales From The Tour Bus. In cartoon form, they shared details of life on the road with Paycheck and Jones. Additionally, Don and his brothers were inducted into the Ohio Country Music Hall of Fame. Then on February 19, 2023, they received a Founder of The Sound Award at The Ameripolitan Awards in Memphis, TN at the Graceland Hotel.
Don Adams was born on January 4, 1941 in Ross County, Ohio. His father Frank Adams was a local fiddle player, who along with his brothers had a well-known country, gospel and Western band. The tiny town of Greenfield was surrounded by miles of farm fields, and would prove to be a fertile bed of musical talent that would ultimately impact country music in a monumental way. Don, his brothers Gary and Arnie, and their other siblings would take to music like ducks to water. A childhood friend also from Greenfield named Donald Eugene Lytle would ultimately become most influential on the boys and lead them to musical greatness. Lytle, later known as Johnny PayCheck honed the craft of country and music with the help of local town resident and bar owner Paul Angel, who’s home basement recording studio would be ground zero for the young Adams Boys and Lytle. The youngsters spent considerable time together learning the nuances of playing country shuffles, waltzes and swing tunes, while bouncing songwriting ideas off of each other. Some of their early recordings survive today. Don Adams fondly recalled those fertile days, and in his estimation, PayCheck was a musical genius from a young age.
Ultimately Don Adams would settle in on playing bass, rhythm guitar and singing harmony vocals. Adams possessed a truly rare tenor vocal talent that would in time take him to the biggest stages in country music. It wasn’t long before Johnny PayCheck and The Adam Brothers would become “The Jones Boys” backing George Jones throughout the early ’60s.
Johnny PayCheck himself would come and go from the band, and with the addition of steel guitar godfather Buddy Emmons, the Jones Boys became the hottest live band in country music for a time. They did many package tours, often backing the stars of the day including a young Loretta Lynn, Little Jimmy Dickens, Merle Travis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Jimmy Dean, Merle Haggard, Ray Price, Buck Owens, Stonewall Jackson, Ferlin Husky, Melba Montgomery and others. TV appearances became fairly regular for Don Adams, often backing George Jones on The Jimmy Dean Show and other country music televised programs. Jones saw enormous talent in Don Adams, and the two would harmonize live, sharing the same microphone, and Jones would joke that Adams could easily fill the vocal part of an absent Melba Montgomery on songs like “We Must have Been Out of Our Minds.”George Jones live shows were opportunities for Adams and his brothers to show off their skills, with Don himself often getting a few opportunities to sing while they warmed up the crowd for Jones. The level of musicianship was high for the day and with Buddy Emmons pushing the envelope musically. The Adams had to be on top of their game. Don Adams singing lead:
Famed producer Pappy Dailey managed to capture a bit of the majesty of the band on a live album called George Jones Live At DanceTown USA. The album features Don Adams singing the lead on a few songs as well as harmonizing with Jones. It’s a must listen for fans of early George Jones music as well as an amazing time-capsule look into the sound the Adams brought to the live stage. Jones gave Don Adams and his brothers further recording opportunities in the studio on The Race is On album, and on a handful of other songs released on his various Mercury and United Artist label albums.
Adams had a big break in 1973 when he scored a record deal with major label Atlantic Records, and his solo debut album Don Adams – On His Way was released. The album featured two songs written by Don himself including “Oh What a Future She Had” and “I Just Lost my Favorite Girl.” Two of the other songs on the album charted as hits, with “I’ve Already stayed Too Long” hitting #34 on the charts and “I’ll Be Satisfied” at #91. Though the album didn’t make Adams a household name, it did prove that Adams was indeed the complete package musically, as well as showcase his vocal talents. The musicians who played on the album included some of the very best A-list players Nashville ever assembled including Harold Bradley, Reggie Young, Buddy Spicher, Vassar Clements, Bobby Wood, Gary Adams, Doug Jernigan and Weldon Myrick. Don Adams would write many songs throughout his career and one co-written with his brother Gary that would prove to be the final song Marty Robbins ever recorded called “That’s Love.” Adams’ own version of the song was released in 1974 and charted at #52.
In speaking with Don Adams in numerous interviews, he fondly recalled the opportunities he had to play with many of the finest steel guitar players ever, including Buddy Emmons, Doug Jernigan, Weldon Myrick, Tom Brumley, and Norm Hamlet among others. The opportunity to jam with so many greats thrilled him, and he happily recalled playing and attending the once annual Nashville DJ convention every year, where musicians and artists set up camp in local hotels near the Ryman and would play in rooms at all hours of the day and night. He recalled how you could go in the various rooms and find Paycheck playing with Haggard’s guys or Ray Price’s band members jamming with Buck Owens band and so on. Pedal Steel Hall of Famer Doug Jernigan became a close personal friend of Adams and joined him in Paycheck’s Lovemakers band and other musical endeavors. At the time they met, Jernigan was considered one of the fastest guns on pedal steel. Adams was also very close with Buck Owens’ band The Buckaroos. Its fair to say at the time, there weren’t many musicians Don Adams didn’t know in Country Music.
The touring schedule with Jones and later with Paycheck could be grueling at times with sometimes 300 live shows a year. But along the way, amazing gigs happened including a show at Carnegie Hall with Paycheck, a show at Madison Square Garden with George Jones and Buck Owens, a gig with Paycheck in 1976 at the famous Cow Palace in San Francisco, and a very high profile show at The Hollywood Bowl with George Jones and Johnny Cash. There was an appearance on popular music TV show The Midnight Special with Paycheck that is a must-see and the footage can be found online to this day. And of course, Don Adams played Vegas along with Paycheck. At that time, the band featured a horn section and attracted so much attention that the great Wayne Newton was left nearly speechless watching them, causing him to tell Paycheck that he had the “best band in Vegas.”
It was a wild and crazy ride Don Adams found himself on and he and his brothers had a reputation as hard-partying and sometimes pranksters who lived the life. There are stories of George Jones fighting Little Jimmy Dickens in a hotel room, of The Adams Brothers locking Little Jimmy up in a hotel closet, of brother Gary Adams pranking Merle Haggard and The Strangers to such a degree that later in life someone interviewing The Hag asked what he remembered about The Adams Boys, and Hag replied “The Adams Brothers had less than a stellar reputation.” This particular anecdote was often repeated by Don and Arnie and was always followed by much laughter. There was also the crazy story of the time Jones was in bad shape as a result of cocaine and booze, he was living in a haze, and his entire band had quit him. Jones called Don and Gary Adams up asking them to come to Nashville and back him for some shows around 1978 or so. The Adams Brothers drove up and found Jones in quite a state, and while there Jones asked how much cash The Adams had; they pulled out pocket change and Jones grabbed it and his own change and tossed it all into the grass, saying “Well boys, if we’re gonna be broke, we might as well all be broke together.” George Jones went on to play the two a demo tape of a song he was considering recording, but in his estimation it was a morbid weeper of a tune. As Don and Gary listened they agreed the song was a hit and Jones needed to record it. But he was clearly in no shape at the time to even bring into a recording studio. Jones was a hot mess. The Adams’s told Jones the song would be great for a comeback and they were happy to record it with him, but only on the condition that he first go to the hospital and sober up. Reluctantly, Jones allowed the two to drive him to a treatment center, whereupon he did indeed clean up for a time and detox his body. Later when The Adams called back, ready to record, they discovered that Jones manager had forbid Jones from any more contact with The Adams’s as he felt they were a bad influence. Jones did go on to record that morbid weeper and “He Stopped Loving Her Today” became arguably one of the greatest country songs of all time.
Amidst all the fun and crazy times on the road, Don Adams began to become aware that his family was suffering without him. His beloved daughters were constantly wondering when daddy would be home. His wife made clear that his priority should be to his family, and in time he came to agree with them. It was a big decision for a musician of his caliber considering the opportunities he had and the amount of years he had put into this career. Though music had quite the pull on him, his heart told him that he needed to be there for his girls and ultimately he got a day job that made it possible to retire from the road. This proved to be a great decision for him and his family. Don Adams would continue to play music locally, around Ohio with various friends and with his brothers. Along the way, Don Adams had become a star in his little Ohio community.
Don Adams was beloved by so many musicians from and around Ohio including Country singer Daryl McCall and his sister Diane McCall who supported him to the end. From time to time, Don and Gary would perform shows with other former members of Johnny Paycheck’s band at various venues around Greenfield, Ohio. Recently a mural was painted in the town that names several famous musicians that came up in Greenfield including Paycheck, and there on the mural, prominently below Paychecks name is written The Adams Brothers. Just last year, Greenfield issued a proclamation recognizing Don Adams many achievements in music and held an event at the City hall in his honor. And certainly he was thrilled a few years back to be inducted into the Ohio Country Music Hall of Fame where his name rests alongside greats like Paycheck, Earl Thomas Conley, Bobby Bare, Shelley West and Connie Smith.
Don Adams has left behind a legacy worth remembering. When you consider that at the time he was touring first in the early 60s, there were few permanent country touring bands. He was certainly a trailblazer, and a member of two of the most influential country bands in history. At the same time, Adams and his brothers were like pioneers in the live music setting, arranging songs for live performance, learning to entertain an audience for maximum effect, while being tasked to back numerous performers and learn songs on the fly as it were with minimal rehearsal times. The Adams Brothers influence can still be felt today as they are remembered by elite musicians working in the music industry, folks like Brent Mason and his brother Randy, Doug Jernigan, Eddie Lange and others who know the significance of what they did.
For those of us who could attend, we heard the cheers, we heard the deafening applause and witnessed multiple standing ovations when Don and his brother Arnie were awarded the prestigious Founder of The Sound award at the 2023 Ameripolitan Awards Show in Memphis, Tennessee at the Graceland Hotel Theater. In front of a crowd that included many young independent country artists and musicians, producers, music fans, a few legends, and family, Don Adams grinned and held onto that trophy along with his brother Arnie and basked for just a moment in appreciation.
Don is survived by his 5 daughters : Dee A Shelton, Lee A Brooks, Kimberly A Adams, Kandi A Adams, and Stephanie L Roggero. He is also survived by his brothers Daryl Adams and Ferrell Adams as well as numerous nephews and nieces. Details on funeral arrangements will be updated and added to the article as we get them.
Special Thanks to Linda Wilson for her assistance working with Don. And special thanks to author Eric Grate who is releasing a book on The Adams’s titled The Notorious Adams Brothers to be released on April 20, 2026. – – – – – – – – – – –
Source: savingcountrymusic.com