New Country Hits, despite its generic title, documents how George Jones had grown from country star to living genre legend. Musicor New Country Hits (with The Jones Boys, 1965) ![]() Though the lion’s share of the album is Jones as king of broken hearts, stark but successful detours like “Life to Go” and the earnestness of gospel tunes “Wandering Soul” and “Jesus Wants Me” show early signs of depth and versatility. The haunting “Life to Go” is more remarkable: a remorseful murder ballad written by Jones (and an uncredited Stonewall Jackson, who would have a big hit when he recorded it) with as much detail and human empathy as any of Johnny Cash’s more famous prisoners’ laments. ![]() Heartache anthems like “Don’t Do This to Me” and “No Use to Cry” and the Jeannette Hicks duet “I’m With the Wrong One” are prototypes of sounds he’d eventually define. The rest of White Lightning and Other Favorites sounds nothing like “White Lightning,” with the possible (and partial, at best) exception of “Nothing Can Stop Me.” What it does sound like is exactly what George Jones wanted to play at that time: honky-tonk in the sonic mold of his heroes Hank Williams and Lefty Frizzell, but filtered through a voice that’d recently transcended those influences and become a unique and distinct instrument. 1, making it Jones’ first chart-topper after several Top 10s, including “Just One More” and “Color of the Blues.” “Big Bopper” Richardson just before his untimely death, is so flat-out incredible that its clear rockabilly sound-which wasn’t always liked by country fans, including Jones-drove listeners wild. “White Lightning” is an expertly performed paean to a moonshiner, beloved by hillbillies and “ city slickers” alike while carefully dodging the Feds (“ G-Men, T-Men, Revenuers too/Searchin for the place where he made his brew”). Mercury George Jones Sings White Lightning and Other Favorites (1959) (Fortunately, I did the legwork for you when required.) I wanted examples from each of his critical career phases, so I couldn’t avoid that irritation entirely. After finding all of this, you have to cut and paste tracks into playlists to get the right sequencing. You can track down many of the songs from those albums on streaming, but they’re scattered across a labyrinth of compilations with overly similar cover art and titles (sometimes stealing the titles of known Jones LPs without featuring those albums’ original tracklists). ![]() A fair number of Jones’ 87 studio albums aren’t available on music streaming services, CD or vinyl. Anyone who decides to take country music seriously arrives at Jones sooner or later, and most get hooked for life.Ĭhoosing essential George Jones albums is difficult due to the immensity of his catalog, making this Beginner’s Guide notably longer than the average. He embodies how country, at its best, resonates as a singularly sincere representation of human emotion. He is one of the greatest vocalists in any genre, full stop. ![]() But let’s get right to it: George Jones is country music-its soul and its raw beating heart. We’ll explore some biographical details more closely as they come up in the context of the albums. Drinking and drugs turned his depression into anger and violence. Anxiety manifested as stage fright, hence the ditched concerts and “No-Show Jones” nickname. Though Jones spent most of his life making music that lived up to the hype, he always felt unworthy.
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