He Stopped Loving Her Today: George Jones, Billy Sherrill, and the Pretty-Much Totally True Story of the Making of the Greatest Country Record of All Time
When George Jones recorded “He Stopped Loving Her Today” more than thirty years ago, he was a walking disaster. Twin addictions to drugs and alcohol had him drinking Jim Beam by the case and snorting cocaine as long as he was awake. Before it was over, Jones would be bankrupt, homeless, and an unwilling patient at an Alabama mental institution. In the midst of all this chaos, legendary producer Billy Sherrill—the man who discovered Tammy Wynette and cowrote “Stand by Your Man”—would somehow coax the performance of a lifetime out of the mercurial Jones. The result was a country masterpiece.

He Stopped Loving Her Today, the story behind the making of the song often voted the best country song ever by both critics and fans, offers an overview of country music's origins and a search for the music's elusive Holy Grail: authenticity. The schizoid bottom line—even though country music is undeniably a branch of the make-believe world of showbiz, to fans and scholars alike, authenticity remains the ultimate measure of the music's power.
"1100051518"
He Stopped Loving Her Today: George Jones, Billy Sherrill, and the Pretty-Much Totally True Story of the Making of the Greatest Country Record of All Time
When George Jones recorded “He Stopped Loving Her Today” more than thirty years ago, he was a walking disaster. Twin addictions to drugs and alcohol had him drinking Jim Beam by the case and snorting cocaine as long as he was awake. Before it was over, Jones would be bankrupt, homeless, and an unwilling patient at an Alabama mental institution. In the midst of all this chaos, legendary producer Billy Sherrill—the man who discovered Tammy Wynette and cowrote “Stand by Your Man”—would somehow coax the performance of a lifetime out of the mercurial Jones. The result was a country masterpiece.

He Stopped Loving Her Today, the story behind the making of the song often voted the best country song ever by both critics and fans, offers an overview of country music's origins and a search for the music's elusive Holy Grail: authenticity. The schizoid bottom line—even though country music is undeniably a branch of the make-believe world of showbiz, to fans and scholars alike, authenticity remains the ultimate measure of the music's power.
18.99 In Stock
He Stopped Loving Her Today: George Jones, Billy Sherrill, and the Pretty-Much Totally True Story of the Making of the Greatest Country Record of All Time

He Stopped Loving Her Today: George Jones, Billy Sherrill, and the Pretty-Much Totally True Story of the Making of the Greatest Country Record of All Time

by Jack Isenhour
He Stopped Loving Her Today: George Jones, Billy Sherrill, and the Pretty-Much Totally True Story of the Making of the Greatest Country Record of All Time

He Stopped Loving Her Today: George Jones, Billy Sherrill, and the Pretty-Much Totally True Story of the Making of the Greatest Country Record of All Time

by Jack Isenhour

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Overview

When George Jones recorded “He Stopped Loving Her Today” more than thirty years ago, he was a walking disaster. Twin addictions to drugs and alcohol had him drinking Jim Beam by the case and snorting cocaine as long as he was awake. Before it was over, Jones would be bankrupt, homeless, and an unwilling patient at an Alabama mental institution. In the midst of all this chaos, legendary producer Billy Sherrill—the man who discovered Tammy Wynette and cowrote “Stand by Your Man”—would somehow coax the performance of a lifetime out of the mercurial Jones. The result was a country masterpiece.

He Stopped Loving Her Today, the story behind the making of the song often voted the best country song ever by both critics and fans, offers an overview of country music's origins and a search for the music's elusive Holy Grail: authenticity. The schizoid bottom line—even though country music is undeniably a branch of the make-believe world of showbiz, to fans and scholars alike, authenticity remains the ultimate measure of the music's power.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781626744233
Publisher: University Press of Mississippi
Publication date: 10/11/2011
Series: American Made Music Series
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 176
File size: 3 MB

About the Author

Jack Isenhour is author of Same Knight, Different Channel: Basketball Legend Bob Knight at West Point and Today and coauthor, with Dennis Rodman, of the basketball star's memoir, I Should Be Dead by Now.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Prologue: Shattering Glass in a Minor Key 3

Part 1 George Jones Live

1 Vacant, Inert Cipher 13

2 Art and Money 20

3 The Country Music Dialectic 30

4 The Lesson of Paducah 34

Part 2 Authenticity, A.K.A. The Real Deal

5 Hillbillies and Cowboys 45

6 Country Cred 52

7 Jimmie and Them 61

Part 3 The Nashville Sound

8 Violins From Hell or The Short, Official, Pretty-Much Totally Bogus History of the Nashville Sound 73

9 The Long, Unofficial, Pretty-Much Totally True History of the Nashville Sound 81

10 Yeah, But Is It Country? 87

Part 4 Music Makers

11 Follow the Money 93

12 The Writing of "He Stopped Loving Her Today" 102

13 The Quonset Hut 113

14 Making Music 120

Part 5 George Glenn

15 Plum Crazy 131

16 Spoiled Rotten Child Prodigy Addict 135

17 Heart Broke 143

Part 6 The Making of "He Stopped Loving Her Today"

18 Now in Session: George Jones 155

19 Eyewitnesses v. Paperwork 160

20 Collaboration and Compilation 168

Epilogue: True Love Purgatory 181

Sources 187

Index 197

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