Playlist: the Very Best of George Jones [Digipak]

Performer: George Jones
Distributor: Sony Music Distribution (

Notes: The title of this 2009 compilation contains neither the word "hits" nor "best," so it makes no bones about not being a collection of singles from George Jones' time at Epic. It is merely a Playlist, a collection of songs -- both hits and album tracks -- and in that regard it's not bad, serving up a few outright classics ("A Picture of Me (Without You)," "The Grand Tour," "He Stopped Loving Her Today") with a few overlooked gems and a couple of puzzling inclusions. That latter category is hardly enough to stop this from being entertaining, although if one is looking for either an introduction or a collection of George's best cuts for Epic they should look elsewhere. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

George Jones is the greatest of country singers but he has also been a victim of the infamous hard-living honky-tonk lifestyle. Though he's gone through several phases, from rockabilly to honky-tonk to countrypolitan, his melismatic, Lefty Frizell-influenced style has remained at the core of his unique sound. His stormy marriage to Tammy Wynette (1969-75) included duet albums of love songs and bitter recriminations. By the late '70s, his drinking and cocaine addiction had made him so unreliable that he was known as "No Show Jones." In 1979 he received medical treatment and staged a significant comeback with I AM WHAT I AM, which included his greatest single, "He Stopped Loving Her Today."

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