REDNECK BOY IN THE PROMISED LAND

Millions of people know Ben Jones from his memorable role in the television classic The Dukes of Hazzard as well as his career in the United States Congress. But most are unaware of “Crazy Cooter’s” rollicking, rollercoaster tales of his adventurous past.

REDNECK BOY IN THE PROMISED LAND: The Confessions of “Crazy Cooter” (Harmony Books/June 3, 2008) is filled with stories, anecdotes, and opinions about Jones’ experience growing up in the hardscrabble South, about the rambunctious Sixties, alcoholism and addiction, show business, politics and Congress, and one “good ol’ boy’s” struggle against himself.

“CAPTURING SOUTHERN CULTURE IN A BURLAP BAG FULL OF FUNNY ANECDOTES, JONES COVERS MILES AND MEMORIES…THIS MODERN-DAY WILL ROGERS WRITES WITH A MIX OF HUMOR, PATHOS AND PASSION IN A RIP-ROARIN’ BOOK WITH A DOWN-HOME FLAVOR…”
— Publishers Weekly

“A warm, witty portrait of a quietly extraordinary American life.”
— Kirkus Reviews

Ben Jones grew up in a railroad house with no electricity or indoor plumbing, on the “colored” side of the tracks, in a freight yard by the busy docks of Portsmouth, Virginia. In a family given to hard work and hard liquor, he spent a lot of time dreaming about where the tracks would take him. A daily alcoholic by the age of sixteen, he stumbled through a hazy academic career in the Sixties, finding at the University of North Carolina a love of theatre and politics, in addition to the ever popular “sex, drugs, and rock and roll.”

During the Civil Rights Movement, he was jailed, sucker-punched, shot at, and threatened for his support of integration in the Jim Crow South. At the same time, he was beginning a professional career as an entertainer. Despite his talent and success as a performer, he spiraled drunkenly downward through three marriages, countless affairs, barroom brawls, and twenty alcohol related arrests until, at age 36, “hit bottom at the back door of Hell,” near death on a filthy floor in Atlanta in 1977. “I got sober the day before I died,” he says.

In recovery, his life seemed to change miraculously. Within a year he was cast as “Cooter”, the good ol’ boy sidekick to Bo and Luke Duke, on the phenomenal television hit The Dukes of Hazzard. Even more unlikely was his later rise to political prominence as a respected two-term Congressman from Georgia.

In recent years, Jones has appeared in films such as PRIMARY COLORS and JOE GOULD'S  SECRET, toured the country singing with "Cooter's Garage Band", and made hundreds of appearances on television talk shows including  Hardball, The O'Reilly Factor,  Hannity and Colmes and the Today Show. His editorial opinions have appeared in many publications including USA Today, The Washington Post, and The Atlanta Constitution.

Jones’ memoir is about failure and redemption, love and loss, and the spiritual growth achieved after being given a second chance at life. Written with naked honesty and wry humor, REDNECK BOY IN THE PROMISED LAND is one good ol’ boy’s remarkable tale of falling flat on his face, picking himself up, and finding his way to the American dream.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

BEN JONES played the memorable “Crazy Cooter” character on the popular television show The Dukes of Hazzard and was elected to serve two terms in the United States Congress from the Fourth District of Georgia. He and his wife are proprietors of the “Cooter’s Place” museums and shops in Virginia and Tennessee and started the “DukesFest” celebration held annually.

“When I was growing up in Georgia, “Cooter” was one of my heroes. I’m not sure but I think it was required by law. Who would have thought that one day I would actually come to know Ben Jones and, in knowing him, find that he remains one of my heroes! Ben Jones is nothing less than a great American.” — Jeff Foxworthy

“Ben Jones and I go way back, before anyone called him “Cooter” or “Congressman.” He always told the truth. A little on the slant, maybe, which only made it more interesting. And like the wild boy I knew then, his book, Redneck Boy in the Promised Land, is gusty, funny, and good-hearted. And definitely reader-friendly.” — Russell Banks, author of The Reserve

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