George Jones – My Very Special Guests

In 1979, George Jones was better known among non-country fans than at any time in his, at that point, quarter-century career. But not for his singing. Unlike chart contemporaries Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, Merle Haggard and Ray Price, he’d never scored a crossover hit to speak of. No, Jones’ notoriety was as a fixture of the tabloids. This was a result of his marriage to the far more famous Tammy “Stand By Your Man” Wynette, and of the couple’s messy divorce; together, they’d been “The President and First Lady of Country Music.” But it was also due to his subsequent drug-and-booze-fueled run-ins with law enforcement, and his reputation for leaving paying customers in the lurch: “No Show” Jones.

Still, even as his weight plummeted to barely 100 pounds and his voice became reduced to what producer Billy Sherrill described as “that high, wispy cocaine sound,” his reputation as a singer’s singer — maybe the greatest singer ever — only continued to spread. And this, amazingly, was at a time when the record that’s now his signature song, “He Stopped Loving Her Today”, was still a year from release.

This is the context in which Jones cut My Very Special Guests, a collection of duets with some other impressive singers (Emmylou Harris, Mavis Staples, Linda Ronstadt, Johnny Paycheck, and Wynette), as well as collaborations with a few mere mortals (Elvis Costello, James Taylor, and Dennis and Ray of Dr. Hook). If you want to hear what it sounds like when a pretty darn good singer is paired with one of the best vocalists who’s ever stood behind a microphone, check out “I Gotta Get Drunk”, where Willie Nelson shines for a verse, then is instantly dimmed to the point of irrelevance at Jones’ entrance. As Waylon Jennings ad-libs on the album’s standout performance, a bluesy and muscular turn with Jones on “Night Life”: “[I] feel like musical straight man! I love your singin’.”

This two-disc version of the album has been enhanced with just about every significant duet Jones cut from the time of Special Guests until he left Epic in 1991. These include the chart-topping “Yesterday’s Wine” with Haggard and the riotous “We Didn’t See A Thing” with Ray Charles, from ’82 and ’83 respectively, as well as his duet with Patty Loveless in 1997 (she still records for Epic) on “You Don’t Seem To Miss Me”. Along the way he sings with everyone from B.B. King to Alan Jackson, and time and again, he doesn’t just show up; he very nearly always steals the show.