George Jones - 50 Years of Hits is a HUGE Hit With This George Fan!

George Jones is my favorite male singer of all time. He has a voice that nobody can come close to. For me listening to him is soothing. His voice is so easy for me to listen to. I love traditional country music especially the really twangy stuff that a lot of people just can’t stand. I prefer the “real” country music over the pop stuff that singers today are calling country. I was especially excited when I found out about the George Jones 50 Years of Hits package. This is a three CD set that includes some of his best songs from 1955-present.

I found out more about George’s career when I read the insert that came with the CD. It says that "he was signed to Starday Records in 1953, released his first singles in 1954 and had his first hit with “Why Baby Why” in 1955. He has recorded nearly 900 songs (comprising 943 albums). Billboard Magazine said that George has had more charted singles than any artist in any format of music!" That is really amazing in itself and something that I didn’t know before this package was released.

A song was picked out from each year of George’s career. Many of the songs were picked because they were a huge hit, but some of the songs are ones that George personally wanted to include. Everything that is included is an original recording except for two of the songs. This three CD set will provide literally hours of listening for me.

The first CD covers the years 1955-1971. It includes the following songs: Why Baby Why, Just One More, Tall, Tall Trees, Color of the Blues, White Lightning, Window Up Above, Tender Years, She Thinks I Still Care, You Comb Her Hair, The Race is On, We Must Have Been Out of Our Minds (with Melba Montgomery), Still Doin’ Time, Walk Through This World With Me, She’s Mine, I’ll Share My World With You, A Good Year for the Roses (with Alan Jackson) and Take Me (with Tammy Wynette). George originally released A Good Year for the Roses in 1970. However, the version that is on here is a later version that he recorded with country star, Alan Jackson.

The second CD covers the years 1972-1988. It includes the following songs: A Picture of Me Without You, Once You’ve Had the Best, The Grand Tour, These Days I Barely Get By, Her Name Is, Near You (with Tammy Wynette), Bartender’s Blues, Night Life (with Waylon Jennings), He Stopped Loving Her Today, Yesterday’s Wine (with Merle Haggard), Same Ole Me, I Always Get Lucky With You, She’s My Rock, Who’s Gonna Fill Their Shoes, The One I Loved Back Then (The Corvette Song), The Right Left Hand and Radio Lover.

The third CD covers the years 1989-2004. It includes the following songs: I’m a One Woman Man, A Few Ole Country Boys (with Randy Travis), You Couldn’t Get the Picture, Finally Friday, I Don’t Need Your Rockin’ Chair, High-Tech Redneck, One (with Tammy Wynette), I Must Have Done Something Bad, When Did You Stop Loving Me, Wild Irish Rose, Choices, The Cold Hard Truth, Beer Run (with Garth Brooks), 50,000 Names, I Got Everything, Amazing Grace.

There are so many wonderful songs on here that I couldn’t possibly tell you about all of them. Being such a huge fan of George’s I knew most of these songs before I got the CD package. However, there were several that I had never heard before, and it was a delight for me to hear some of his stuff that was new to me. Some of these songs are fun like White Lightning, which was released in 1959. It’s a song about someone’s pappy making moonshine back in the mountains. It’s a fast song with lots of piano. I love the songs that have lots of the fiddle in them. They give it the awesome country sound that I like. Of course there serious songs that deal with love and heartbreak. Window Up Above is a sad song about a marriage breaking up. She Thinks I Still Care begins with background singers and is filled with piano and drums. A Good Year for the Roses is one of my favorites from the first CD. I’m so glad that George included the version he recorded with Alan Jackson. It’s such a sad song and written really brilliantly.

A Picture of Me Without You is another one of my favorites. The imagery in the song is incredible. “Imagine a world where no music was playing - And think of a church with nobody praying - Have you ever looked up at a sky with no blue - Then you’ve seen a picture of me without me”. He Stopped Loving Her Today has often been called the saddest song in country music. It’s about a man that loved a woman even until his death. I can almost feel the heartbreak and pain of the man listening to George’s believable vocals. Radio Lover tells the story of a cheating wife and the tragic ending when he catches her.

I Don’t Need Your Rockin’ Chair was a fun song that George released back in 1993. It was written by another country singer, Billy Yates. It is telling us that he hasn’t gotten old yet. He had some big celebrities join him singing background vocals such as Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, Clint Black, Pam Tillis, Vince Gill, Travis Tritt and more. One is an absolute gorgeous duet that George had with Tammy. It’s a really beautiful love song with lots of piano. “One and one, I’ve always heard - Adds up to two - But one and one is only one - When that one is me and you.” The cry of the fiddle can be heard making this a really nice love song from 1995. Choices is a song that came out in 1999, the same year that George had a nearly deadly auto accident when he was drinking. Choices was co-written by Billy Yates and was really a perfect song for George. It’s all about making choices - good and bad, and deals with the subject of a drinking problem.

I really didn’t think in 2001 it was a good idea for George to release a song about drinking. He came out with Beer Run with Garth Brooks. It’s a fun song about a bunch of guys having a fun weekend drinking beer after a week of working. It turned out to be a big hit for George, but after he nearly died a couple of years earlier from a drinking accident I’m not sure that it was appropriate for him to release it. Nonetheless it’s a fun song. 50,000 Names is a really touching song about the Vietnam Veterans wall. It’s a patriotic song, but is also a really sad song when he think about the thousands of lives that were lost in war. The drums can be heard throughout with piano. Amazing Grace ends the collection of songs. George sings the first verse acappella and then music blends in with his voice. It’s a favorite gospel song of many and George sings it with such beauty.

I am really, really happy with my purchase of the George Jones 50 Years of Hits set. For George Jones fans this is a real treat to have so many wonderful songs all together. For anyone that enjoys country music you are sure to be happy with such a collection of songs. The only change that I would make if I could is I would have included George’s song “Golden Ring” that he recorded with Tammy Wynette. It came out in 1976 and I would have put that on the CD instead of Her Name Is. George and Tammy were once married and sounded simply amazing together. I am really happy that there were three duets with Tammy, especially the recording of One. There is a nice selection of songs here. It includes all of the stuff country music songs are made of: drinking, women, love, cheating, heartache, pain and fun. George Jones sings some of the best country music I can find.

For any George Jones fans out there don't miss his television special celebrating 50 years of Hits that is coming on televison Thanksgiving night.