George Jones

The Grand Tour was hardly George Jones’ first rodeo. Hell, it was the man’s 50th album. But many people in Nashville saw No Show Jones as washed up, fresh off his divorce from Tammy Wynette. His music and career had been in decline for years; his ex was selling far better. But he emerged with one of the great albums of his life — he sounded like a broken, scared, just-divorced man who also happened to be the greatest country singer who ever breathed. The title ballad sets the scene: Possum walks you through an empty house, after his wife has finally walked out. Ironically (or not), it was co-written by George Richey — Tammy’s next husband. But after this album, nobody ever wrote off Jones again. —Rob Sheffield

The Grand Tour was hardly George Jones’ first rodeo. Hell, it was the man’s 50th album. But many people in Nashville saw No Show Jones as washed up, fresh off his divorce from Tammy Wynette. His music and career had been in decline for years; his ex was selling far better. But he emerged with one of the great albums of his life — he sounded like a broken, scared, just-divorced man who also happened to be the greatest country singer who ever breathed. The title ballad sets the scene: Possum walks you through an empty house, after his wife has finally walked out. Ironically (or not), it was co-written by George Richey — Tammy’s next husband. But after this album, nobody ever wrote off Jones again. —Rob Sheffield

IThese silly songs are nearly as much a trademark of Jones' style as his signature ballad style, so without them and without the Musicor songs The Essential feels a bit lop-sided toward the serious hardcore honky tonk. Hardly a fatal flaw, of course, since this is where much of Jones' legacy lies, and it is a good, accurate overview of George's career, even if it's not as thorough or lively as The Spirit of Country. Apart from the aforementioned Musicor sides and his MCA work of the '90s (which is hardly a glaring omission), this offers a fair representation of his many labels: there are four cuts from Starday, six apiece from Mercury and United Artists, a whopping 25 sides from Epic which is appropriate, since he spent nearly 20 years on the label and had over 60 charting singles while he was there and, as a coda, a cut from his 1999 album for Asylum.