George Jones has sustained his career in country music for six spectacular decades. But of all his career milestones, accolades and achievements, one simple thing stands out – when legendary songwriters Bobby Braddock and Curly Putman brought him a song called ‘He Stopped Loving Her Today.’

“I’m very proud of a lot of things here lately,” George tells The Boot. “The Kennedy Awards and of course the Hall of Fame in country music – just so many good things that I’m proud that have happened to me, but getting a song like that [is the greatest of all].”

Year after year on list after list, the tune is named the best country song of all time, and this year is no different.

“I found out that CMT voted on it again last night as the all-time country song,” George says proudly. “It must have moved a lot of people, that’s all I can say!”

The tender ballad with a memorable recitation has won CMA and ACM Awards, a Grammy, and is listed in the Library of Congress National recording Registry. It’s the song’s powerful message – something that people of all ages can relate to, that George feels has made such an impact since its release in 1980.

“We all in our lifetime lose a loved one,” George says. “A lot of times it’s a mother or dad or grandma or grandpa that we usually lose, and that’s really hard on the older people to lose someone that’s close and they’ve spent so many years together with. I think that’s why this song is so great. It’s happened to so many people. It will always be that way. I think it will be a standard-type song in country music. There will probably be different versions of it coming out throughout the future.”

The song is also featured on George Jones: ‘A Collection of My Best Recollection,’ available at Cracker barrel Old Country Stores

by Alanna Conaway - The Boot

Last year, George Jones joined the likes of Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, Roy Acuff and Willie Nelson, as a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors. The tribute ceremony will air on CBS on Dec. 30 and includes other artistic luminaries like Barbra Streisand, rockers Roger Daltrey and Pete Townsend of The Who, famed choreographer Twyla Tharp, and Academy Award-winning actor Morgan Freeman. George says the evening was an overwhelming and emotional night for him.

“Oh my goodness … what a surprise all of that was,” George tells The Boot. “Every time I see one of [the artists who paid tribute to me], I have to thank them again. That was very nice of them to come take their time to come do that for me.”

One of the night’s highlight for George was Alan Jackson’s performance of ‘He Stopped Loving Her Today.’

“I think Alan Jackson sung [that song] better than I’ve heard anybody else do it anywhere,” George says. “In fact, I paid real close attention to him on it! I tried to catch a flaw, and I couldn’t!”

George recently released his collection of hits and three new tunes on his exclusive Cracker Barrel album, ‘A Collection of My Best Recollection.’

Country music has its coal miners’ daughters, lonesome cowboys and honky tonk angels. Men and women have sung about heartbreak, loss and love that lives forever.

These lyrics speak to the heart and soothe the soul, but only but only one song was crowned the winner on “Good Morning America.”

Thousands of people logged on voted, and this morning Robin Roberts announced that George Jones’ “He Stopped Loving Her Today” won.

“Crazy” by Patsy Cline was a close second, getting 18 percent of the vote, and Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You” came in third.

Here are the results of the unscientific poll in order of the number of votes each one received. The list of 20 songs was provided by The Tennessean.:

He Stopped Loving Her Today, by George Jones
Crazy, by Patsy Cline
I Will Always Love You, by Dolly Parton
Amarillo By Morning, by George Strait
Where Were You (When The World Stopped Turning), by Alan Jackson
Folsom Prison Blues, by Johnny Cash
I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry, by Hank Williams
Stand By Your Man, by Tammy Wynette
Coal Miner’s Daughter, by Loretta Lynn
The Gambler, by Kenny Rogers
Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain, by Willie Nelson
Will The Circle Be Unbroken, by The Carter Family
On The Other Hand, by Randy Travis
King of the Road, by Roger Miller
Okie From Muskogee, by Merle Haggard
Old Dogs, Children and Watermelon Wine, by Tom T. Hall
It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels, by Kitty Wells
Gentle On My Mind, by Glen Campbell
Crazy Arms, by Ray Price
T For Texas (Blue Yodel #1), by Jimmie Rodgers

George Jones isn’t one to put other artists down. So he was bothered last week when his comments to an Associated Press reporter about contemporary country music were taken by some fans and some bloggers (one named Perez, in particular, whose tone was catty and rude… who’d have thunk it?) to be indictments of current radio favorites Carrie Underwood and Taylor Swift.

Jones was all set to explain himself to Underwood at a Monday evening Dolly Parton CD/DVD release event in Nashville, when Underwood told him she never thought he was criticizing her.

With that behind them, Jones and Underwood posed together for photographers and chatted. Then they watched the Dolly DVD, with Underwood sitting on the arm of George’s chair. So much for a blog-worthy country rift.

The stir came about last week with a story that read, in part: “When asked about what he thought about music by today’s top country stars, the 78-year-old said while they are good, ‘they’ve stolen our identity.’ Jones made the comment during a recent interview when asked about music by artists like Carrie Underwood and Taylor Swift. ‘They had to use something that was established already, and that’s traditional country music. So what they need to do really, I think, is find their own title, because they’re definitely not traditional country music,’ he said.”

Jones has worried since the story circulated that his comments came across as direct criticism of Underwood and Swift.

The point he was trying to make last week was that most contemporary country bears little relation to traditional country music, and that point is about as arguable as “Some bricks are red” or “Many people sleep at night.”

“I don’t want anyone to think I’m against anybody,” Jones said Monday night.

George Jones and many of music city’s biggest names came out to show their love for Dolly Parton. Everyone came out to help her celebrate the premiere of Dolly Parton Live From London on DVD. Take a look at a few pictures from this special event. 

Prohibition ended over 70 years ago, but moonshine songs have still enjoyed a fair amount of popularity in the past decades. Narrowing it down to only 26 songs was difficult, and this month’s Top Five was pretty hotly contested here at The 9513 compound. Nevertheless, we did our best to bring you songs from a wide variety of artists and eras.

1. “White Lightning” – George Jones
A song that’s immediately recognizable from its intro, “White Lightning” is one of Jones’ best, and this month’s Numero Uno song. He’s also recorded a song looking at things from the other side of the law: “Revenooer Man” (Alan Jackson does a nice version too). These days, Possum’s peddling his own form of White Lightning that’s about as far from “Pappy’s corn squeezin’” as you can get: bottled water.