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GEORGE JONES

It Don't Get Any Better Than This. The new CD on MCA doesn't really need Geeorge Jones' name on it. If there's any truth at all in the title, the singer couldn't be anyone but George Jones.

Since Jones first hit the charts in the 1950s, his music has transcended country music trends. As country swung back and forth from rural honky tonks to urban dance halls, from sequins to hats, Jones just kept singing, and the result was hit singles in every decade of the second half of the 20th century. As the record industry advanced from 45s and LPs to CDs and videos, Jones just kept singing, and the result was a string of industry awards ranging from Single of the Year to Video of the Year to induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

His new MCA album It Don't Get Any Better Than This shows why George Jones is acclaimed as the very definition of country music. The first single, "Wild Irish Rose," is a classic example. The song about a hopeless, homeless man was written by Bobby Braddock, co-writer of Jones' most famous record, "He Stopped Loving Her Today," and Jones sees "Wild Irish Rose" as a sequel of sorts. It made a deep impression on Jones the first time he heard it--so deep, in fact, that he turned it down three times. "I thought it was too sad," he said. "But I thought the same thing about 'He Stopped Loving Her Today.' This last time I heard it and it just hit me.

"Wild Irish Rose" has become more than just a song to Jones. As an ex-Marine (he served during the Korean war, although he was never sent into combat), he is sensitive to the plight of the homeless, many of whom are veterans of the military. His video for "Wild Irish Rose" includes a phone number for the National Veterans Foundation, and Jones has become a spokesman for the organization. He has recorded a series of Public Service Announcements for radio, in which he points out that 40 percent of the homeless are veterans and that veterans have accounted for 110,000 suicides.

"l've never done anything like this before," said Jones of his involvement with the NVF, "but I really got into the song. I love these types of songs. They have meaning, and that's the reason I like them so well. We just hope we can open a few eyes with it."
For the ballads on the album, producers Buddy Cannon and Norro Wilson created a classic backdrop of crying steel guitar and tasteful piano fills. Jones' mastery of the country ballad is best illustrated in "Over You," (another Bobby Braddock song) in which the claim of the title is undermined by the anguished vocal twists that seem to slip out of the seemingly in-control singer. The titles of "When Did You Stop Loving Me" and "No Future For Me In Our Past" convey the messages of heavy heartache that make them seem tailor-written for Jones. He even takes what has always been a woman's song, the old Jeanie Sealy hit "Don't Touch Me," and makes it sound like his own.

Although some of Jones' greatest performances through the years have been on ballads, his talent is much broader-based. He's one of country's greatest duet singers, and on the new album he brings in an all-star team of singing partners. The title cut lives up to its billing, "it Don't Get Any Better Than This," with guest appearances by Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Bobby and Bare and someone by the name of Johnny Counterfeit. Jones also teams up with T. Graham Brown for a lively cajun-flavored performance on "Got To Get To Louisiana."

Jones has always had an ear for catchy, fast-paced lyrics and humorous songs (dating back to his first hits "Why Baby Why" and "White Lightning"), and his new album carries on that tradition. In "Smack Dab" he's too busy being in love to talk to the President or to cooperate with a group of space aliens. He has fun beating around the bush before getting to the point in "All That To Say All This." In "Small Y'all" (yet another Braddock song) he finds humor in everyday things that people ought to be ashamed of.

Ironically, one of the most powerful performances on It Don't Get Any Better Than This, comes on a song that's like nothing anyone would expect from George Jones. It's a gospel song, "I Can Live Forever," and in a way it's a new kind of tearjerker for Jones--a performance that brings tears for its beauty and serenity.

George Glen Jones was born in Sarasota, in east Texas. As a kid, he sang for tips on the streets of nearby Beaumont. By age 24, he had been married twice, served in the Marines and was a veteran of the Texas honky tonk circuit. On a recording session in 1955 for Starday Records, producer Pappy Dailey suggested he quit singing like his idols, Lefty Frizzell, Roy Acuff and Hank Williams, and try singing like George Jones. The result was "Why Baby Why," his first Top Five hit.

From Starday, Jones moved to Mercury, where he made rockabilly records as Thumper Jones and had his first country #1 in 1959 with "White Lightning." In 1961 he hit #1 again with "Tender Years" and "She Thinks I Still Care," which led to Male Vocalist of the Year awards from the Country Music Association in 1962 and again in 1963. Later in the '60s, on the Musicor label, his singles consistently hit the Top 10 and he hit #1 again in 1967 with "Walk Through This World With Me."

Jones, the top male singer in country music, married country music's hottest new female artist Tammy Wynette in 1969. He soon joined Wynette's label, Epic, where he enjoyed a successful 20-year association with producer Billy Sherrill. He hit #1 in the 70s with "The Grand Tour" and 7he Door," both in 1974. His marriage to Wynette was stormy but in the recording studio they were the perfect duet partners, hitting #1 with "We're Gonna Hold On" in 1974 and, coinciding with their 1976 divorce, "Golden Ring" and "Near You.

Jones kicked off the 1980s with one of the all-time great country records, "He Stopped Loving Her Today," which won him Single of the Year honors from the CMA in 1980 and again in 1981. His hits continued throughout the decade and his video for "Who's Gonna Fill Their Shoes" won the CMA's Video of the Year award in 1986.
In 1991, Jones signed with MCA Records, an event MCA Nashville president Tony Brown said was "like signing Elvis." In 1992 the CMA recognized Jones' monumental career by electing him to the Country Music Hall of Fame. In his acceptance speech, he asked country radio to keep its ears open to established country stars like himself. He proved his point shortly thereafter with a hit video "I Don't Need Your Rockin' Chair" and a new, cutting- edge album High-Tech Redneck. He followed with the highly acclaimed acoustic album The Bradley Barn Sessions and a reunion album with Tammy Wynette, One.

In 1996, Jones told his life story in the book I Lived To Tell It All, which went to #6 on The New York Times bestseller list. As country fans were reading about his infamous past, he drew from his musical past in putting together a new album, also called I Lived To Tell It All, that featured music in the classic George Jones style.

It Don't Get Any Better Than This adds more classic performances to the career of country music's greatest singer. The title says it all. When it comes to country music, it don't get any better than George Jones.

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