‘George & Tammy’ Music Producer Rachael Moore On Honoring The Legacy Of Country Music’s Ultimate Power Couple – Sound & Screen TV

Destiny Jackson
·3 min read
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

Sometimes fear can be just as strong a motivator as love. That was the case for Showtime’s George & Tammy music producer and engineer Rachael Moore.

Under the influence and recommendation of musical legend T Bone Burnett, who served as a consultant on the Showtime series, Moore took the leap of faith. “He’s a dear mentor of mine,” Moore said about her relationship with Burnett. “I was a protégé of his, he really encouraged me to take this one, and I did.”

More from Deadline

But what really made her say yes? “I had to – I couldn’t say no,” she said. “I was scared, so I had to.”

As a longtime resident of Nashville, aka the Country Music Capital of the World, Moore felt she was obligated to be a part of a series that spotlighted one of the biggest power couples in the genre’s history.

“I’ve been in the music community [in Nashville] going on a decade. I certainly know country music. I certainly know the country music audience there. They are two gods in that town, for sure. [Creating the show meant] big shoes to fill.” Moore said.

Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain play the titular George Jones and Tammy Wynette in the series, which looks at the couple’s complicated and emotionally charged relationship. The series, created by Abe Sylvia, is based on an autobiographical novel by the couple’s daughter Georgette Jones.

The impact of Wynette’s song “Stand by Your Man,” which led her to be known as the “First Lady of Country Music,” and that of Jones’ “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” lauded as one of the greatest country songs of all time, is arguably immeasurable in the music community. Moore explained the pressures of working on a series entrenched with such a legacy.

“I certainly felt pressure,” she said. “Everyone involved did, but that was one thing that I really loved; that everyone wanted to get it right. We got the details and did a lot of research. This project was in the making for about 10 years.”

Behind the scenes, Moore was tasked with getting Shannon and Chastain ready to perform a roster of George and Tammy’s iconic hits on and off set. “They knew the shoes they had to fill and took it very seriously. They trained for a year with a great vocal coach, Ron Browning, and they became [vocal] artists and began singing every single day. They came to Nashville for about two weeks, and we recorded in the studio. We did do pre-records just to have in our back pockets, but we were really delighted that we were able to use most of what they did on set.”

Moore also added about the pair’s dedication to the craft: “Obviously, it’s an impossible task to sound like George Jones and Tammy Wynette. The goal was to just make these two people relatable, and it was important that they sing and that they sing live. As a result, the audience was really able to connect to them in these scenes. We really appreciated that. The feedback I got from the country community was because they were so relatable, it was OK that they didn’t sound exactly like them — but they sang their asses off.”

Check out the panel video above.

Best of Deadline

Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Click here to read the full article.