Remembering George Jones
George Jones — who died today at 81 — and songwriter Bobby Braddock were a power team in country music, and certainly no strangers to sentiment. But when Jones was presented with “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” by Braddock and Curly Putman, the singer was taken aback. “It’s a beautiful song, it’s just too sad!” he exclaimed. It’s the tale of a man who breaks up with his love but never moves on, and is hung up on her until his death. “The ascending string section sounds like the guy is on his way to heaven,” Braddock says. “He never found out anything about the art of letting go. The guy was a bad role model.”
“He Stopped Loving Her Today,” was chosen for preservation in 2008 in the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry.
This story was produced by Ben Manilla and Devon Strolovitch for BMP audio.
Studio 360’s series Inside the National Recording Registry was just honored with a 2012 Peabody Award.
→ Listen to more stories from the series
(Originally aired: December 24, 2009)
