George Jones: Hallelujah It's George Jones!!

April 7, 2009

Hallelujah It's George Jones!!

This particular gospel project came along on the Epic label in 1990 but sharp-eared listeners of the project will be quick to realize that the material was recorded years earlier. I have seen cassette copies on-line indicate 1980 while I have a cassette copy in my collection with the year 1979 indicated...I do know that one of the songs on this album was a b-side of a 1979 George Jones single...and so it's pretty much for certain that the material was recorded during 1979/1980. It was also documented that George would include gospel songs in his concerts around this time period...and there's been commentary made on-line about how these songs were originally recorded for a gospel album that was never released...which explains why a 1990 project would consist of nothing but earlier material.

The album consists of 10 songs...with The Jordanaires and Millie Kirkham doing the background harmonies. George is credited as co-writer on several of the selections. I like all of the songs and my favorites are the up-tempo numbers but I also like the way he delivers the narratives in the slower songs. "A Picture From Life's Other Side" is just as great as you'd expect it to be; by Hank Williams it's a masterpiece in the gallery of gospel music he's noted for and George, given his appreciation of Hank Williams and for having his own gripping narrative style, it's compelling. It's the second song on the album. The family feud reading of "Mama's Family Bible" kicks off the album. The song is about a house being auctioned off after the death of a mother...with family taking a lot of items one by one but nobody bothered to take the bible that was sitting on a shelf...and the song goes on to tell us that once the family got what they wanted, they ended up selling the items, while he kept the bible and never dreamed of selling it.

The tempo picks up quite a bit on song three, the sing-a-long "Me and Jesus" from the pen of Tom T Hall. The song had been a popular hit for Tom T Hall in the early 1970's and George took his shot at recording the song in the late 1970's...even appearing on an episode of Pop! Goes the Country singing the song with host, Tom T Hall. It's a song about a man who's best buddy is Jesus and they really don't need any preaching or any scolding from those who are self-appointed messengers. It also paints a more liberal viewpoint of things with the lyrics in the song of how Jesus likes all kinds, whether they're up-right and moral or not. Naturally, this kind of song isn't a favorite among the more devout.

Song four is "We Oughta Be Ashamed", which appeared in 1979 as the b-side of "Someday My Day Will Come", in which that song carried touches of gospel over-tones as well.

"The Devil Is Gathering Firewood" closes out side one of the album...an up-tempo song about the battle between the Devil and Jesus winning souls and how sinner's better learn how to get on their knee's and pray before it's too late.

"Would They Love Him" is one of the more pointed songs on the album. It tackles religious hypocrisy and it studies the people who say they are Christians and say they believe in God but would they still love him if he came back and insisted that they give up the things that they covet. "Jesus Saves Today" closes out the album...it's one of the more traditional-sounding gospel songs...most of the other gospel songs were arranged strictly country. In between those two songs we have three up-tempo sing-a-long's. "Swoop Down, Sweet Jesus" is a feelgood song about a man who basically lives inside honky-tonk's until he finds Jesus and the title track, "Hallelujah Weekend", is about a family who has a habit of forgetting Sunday's and we're told of a plan in which the gospel spirit can be celebrated all week long by starting your Monday's with Jesus. "The Battle For Daddy's Soul" is one of my favorites as well...it's the story of a woman who wants her husband to give up drinking and find religion. It's sub-titled "The Bible Against the Bottle".

This album, as of this writing, has never been issued as an MP3 and so you're most likely to find it in cassette or CD form at on-line auction sites.

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1976

there were several George Jones albums issued in the mid to late 1970's that never really got the attention they deserved and years later various independent record labels both in America and overseas have issued CD's of the mid '70s out-put; there's a popular belief that his material wasn't up to the 1960's standards but this material is not meant to be comparable to his 1960's out-put...the album contained a majority up-tempo feel in spite of the album cover and it's title; It wasn't until mid-way through that we hear sad songs; the album contained two hit singles...first off the Top-20 title track, "The Battle", and the Top-40 love ballad "You Always Look Your Best Here in My Arms".

1977

One of the under-rated albums from the late '70s from George is this one; it's called I WANTA SING and the title track is about George's musical heroes but don't let the bizarre album cover sway your opinion before hearing the songs; on this album we have hard-core country music with just a touch of pop...that touch of pop comes on "I Love You So Much It Hurts Me" where he croons the song; the hits include the Top-40 "Old King Kong" and the Top-30 "If I Could Put Them All Together"; other highlights from this album include "They've Got Millions in Milwaukee", "Bull Mountain Lad", and "Rest In Peace".

1980

George and Johnny PayCheck had been releasing duet singles for two years prior to the release of this 1980 duet album; titled DOUBLE TROUBLE it set out to cash-in on the rowdy/outlaw side of country music that had been taken over by the Urban Cowboy era; the album contained all of the singles the two were to release together: "Maybelline", "You Can Have Her", "When You're Ugly Like Us", and "You Better Move On"; their single releases were once a year 1978, 1979, 1980, and into early 1981; the duo's 1979 recording of "Proud Mary" is on here as well...it originally appeared on the 1979 all-star collection MY VERY SPECIAL GUESTS that Epic issued on George.

1980

This album is routinely voted as George's all-time classic...every song from #1 to #10 is typically picked as a favorite among his fans; the monster success of the album's centerpiece, "He Stopped Loving Her Today", is one reason why this album in particular stands out above all the others...the single not only hit #1 but it won a Grammy and several other awards; The album itself became the fastest selling of his career...hitting Platinum barely 3 years later...a million copies of a vinyl album was unheard of for many country singers...not to mention one that remained grounded in country music without a lot of pop aspirations; The album featured two more singles...the somber "I'm Not Ready Yet" and the honky-tonker "If Drinkin' Don't Kill Me"; The album had it's share of up-tempo songs...such as "Good Hearted Woman", "His Lovin' Her Is Gettin' In My Way", and the bouncy "Bone Dry".

1981

Issued after the widespread acclaim and success of I AM WHAT I AM in 1980, this album rode the success of it's predecessor and featured two major Top-5 hits plus it included a song that was originally a single-only release in 1979 called "Someday My Day Will Come"; the two Top-5 hits were "Same Ole Me", and the #1 "Still Doin' Time"; the album contained a duet with his daughter, Georgette, "Daddy Come Home"; this album went Gold several years later and it included "I Won't Need You Anymore" which would become one of Randy Travis' first hit songs; other highlights are "You Can't Get The Hell Out of Texas", "Girl, You Sure Know How To Say Goodbye", and "Couldn't Love Have Picked a Better Place To Die".

1982

George and Merle trade verses throughout the majority of this duet album...only one song features almost all George and it's "Silver Eagle" which is a narrative/ballad about Haggard; Each singer gets a song patterned after them...in Haggard's case it's "Silver Eagle" and in George's it's the novelty "No Show Jones", which closes out the album; One of the more deeper songs is "I Think I've Found a Way To Live Without You" and coming in a close second is "After I Sing All My Songs"; the album contained the #1 title track, "Yesterday's Wine", and the Top-10 "C.C. Waterback"; "The Brothers" is another great song.

1983

This is a wonderful album from George released in early 1983; according to what I've read, the vocals were recorded in 1982 and Billy Sherrill and his associates added everything else later but you couldn't tell by listening to it that it was patched together; It boasted three major Top-5 hits: the title track, "Shine On", plus the smashes "Tennessee Whiskey" and "I Always Get Lucky With You", all three singles peaked at #3, #2, and #1 respectively; in spite of the album boasting those hits, it went out of print as mostly everything George recorded in the mid 1980's period; Have no fear...it's available as an MP3 digitial download so the material lives on in the digital age.

1983

Released in the latter part of 1983, this album went by without much notice...you'd think an album named after his outdoor music park would generate interest but Epic didn't do anything with the album and as a result it's not remembered but it's a great album...and it did reach the Top-30 on the country album chart...so it wasn't completely over-looked...but none of the songs were promoted as singles; I wrote at length about this album and the outdoor music park, Jones Country, within the blog pages to the left of this time-line.

1984

such a wonderful duets album is this one from George and a host of female country singers; the album boasts 9 duets and 1 solo song; The solo song is "She's My Rock", which was a huge hit for George in the fall of 1984; after the single fell back down the charts the follow-up was issued...a duet with Brenda Lee on a song called "Hallelujah, I Love You So", which promptly hit the Top-20 in early 1985...as did the third single from this album, a duet with Lacy J Dalton entitled "Size Seven Round and Made of Gold"; Some of the other highlights is the duet with Leona Williams, "Best Friends", and the duet with Loretta on "We Sure Make Good Love"...Emmylou Harris, one of George's biggest fans, appears on "All Fall Down".

1985

Featuring the Top-5 title track, "Who's Gonna Fill Their Shoes?", this album contained a few positive, feel-good songs in addition to the standard sad, heartbreak songs, too; The title track was made into an award winning music video; Two more songs became hits as well, "The One I Loved Back Then" matched the success of the title track while "Somebody Wants Me Out of the Way" reached the Top-10 in early 1986; a couple of duets were featured on this album...one of them with Lacy J Dalton called "That's Good...That's Bad" and one with Lynn Anderson called "If Somehow You Could Touch Her At All"; "If I Could Paint You a Picture" is in the pretty song category.

1986

On this particular album we hear George perform a variety of songs...some countrier than others; Patti Page appears on a duet, "You Never Looked That Good When You Were Mine"; A lot of attention was paid to "The Right Left Hand", which was written about George and Nancy; the single hit the Top-10 in early 1987; the title track, "Wine Colored Roses", was a Top-10 in late 1986; a third single, "I Turn To You", reached the Top-30; other highlights from the album are "Ol' Frank", "If Only Your Eyes Could Lie", and "These Old Eyes Have Seen It All".

1990

This here is the rare album, YOU OUGHTA BE HERE WITH ME, that Epic Records issued on George in 1990; the label released two commercial singles from this album...so it wasn't totally ignored...but in hindsight the promotions department didn't spend much time on the release; the singles issued were "Hell Stays Open All Night Long" and the bouncy "Six Foot Deep, Six Foot Down"; George actually performed the second song on his TV show in the late 1990's. This project, too, is available as an MP3.

2006

This reunion album between George and Merle came out in 2006; the album was a moderate success and I pin a lot of blame on the fact that it was not highly promoted/publicized with some kind of tour or any joint appearances; both artist's were extremely busy on the road doing solo dates that a concert tour was impossible...even more ironic is that Haggard was on tour with Willie Nelson and Ray Price around the same time this CD came out....Haggard, Willie, and Ray had recorded an album called LAST OF THE BREED, released early in 2007, a few months after the release of this 2006 album, and the three of them went out on tour to select venue's; on this 2006 album, each singer takes turns singing the hit songs of each other plus they unite in five duet recordings throughout; this reunion album marked the first duet project for the two of them since 1982...this particular 2006 CD was issued in October and the LAST OF THE BREED was issued in March 2007...giving no real time to support the CD on the road.