Ol’ Possum was a wild one, but man, he was one of the best to ever do it.
And on this date back in 2013, the legendary George Jones passed away in Nashville, Tennessee, at the age of 81.
Now it was no secret that Jones had his battles along the way to achieving country music greatness, as he struggled with alcohol and drug addiction, but he does have one of the greatest redemption stories in all of country music.
He was married to fellow country singer Tammy Wynette, but she had to break it off due to Jones’ addiction problems. He was heartbroken, as he loved Tammy, and he hit rock bottom for a while. He was going broke, his addiction was still running rampant, and he was still in love with Tammy…
But then in 1980, he cut a song that would go on to be one of the greatest and most recognizable country songs on the planet:
“He Stopped Loving Her Today.”
And to this day, it’s his biggest hit.
So of course, somebody had to sing the song to pay tribute to Possum at his funeral, and that somebody was Mr. Alan Jackson himself.
Jackson has been very vocal about Jones being one of his biggest inspirations in country music, so it was only natural for him to sing the hit song.
WARNING: You may shed a tear… or 50.
The original:
For real though…