He Stopped Loving Her Today: George Jones, Billy Sherrill, and the Pretty-Much Totally True Story of the Making of the Greatest Country Record of All Time

Acknowledgments

ix acknowLedgmenTS Thanks to Joan Barnfield, who served time at the original Possum Holler; Connie Woods and Glynn and Brenda Dowdle, who knew somebody who knew somebody; Judge-John-Brown for the goat roast and backstage passes; and Sheriff Daron Hall who took us along for the ride. Thanks to “He Stopped Loving Her Today” co-writer Bobby Braddock and A Team/“He Stopped Loving Her Today” bass player Bob Moore and wife Kitra who were beyond generous with their time and insight. Thanks to Alison Booth at Sony, who, at Bobby Braddock’s request, searched the CBS/Epic archives from Nashville to New York. Thanks to Billy Sherrill and daughter Cathy Lale for the rare interview, and to fellow talkers “He Stopped Loving Her Today” co-songwriter Curly Putman and “He Stopped Loving Her Today” session musicians Charlie McCoy, Hargus “Pig” Robbins , Jerry Carrigan, and Pete Wade; engineers Lou Bradley and Ron “Snake” Reynolds; and background singer Millie Kirkham. Thanks to then Bandit Records executives Evelyn Shriver and Susan Nadler; Musicians’ Hall of Fame creator Joe Chambers , back-in-the-day, Kenny-Rogers’ producer Larry Butler, and Billy Sherrill’s “gal Friday” turned label executive Emily Mitchell. Thanks to music scholars Joli Jensen (who read an early manuscript), the late Richard Peterson for his myth-shattering book Creating Country Music: Fabricating Authenticity, Paul Kingsbury, Nick Tosches, Charles Wolfe, Bill Ivey, Bill C. Malone, Nicholas Dawidoff, Douglas B. Green, Patrick Carr, Craig Havighurst , Dianne Pecknold, Marc Fisher, Randy Rudder, and to Reference Librarian Dawn Oberg at the Country Music Hall of Fame x Acknowledgments and Museum and Nashville Room photo guru Beth Odle at the Nashville Public Library. Thanks to George Jones biographers Bob Allen, Dolly Carlisle , Tom Carter, and Jim Brown; Billboard chart compiler Joel Whitburn; and journalists Michael Kosser, Phillip Self, Rick Bolsom , Robert Oermann, Beverly Keel, and a cast of thousands at the Nashville Banner and the Tennessean. I am indebted to them all. And finally, thanks most of all to my wife and partner Dana E. Moore. None of this gets written without Dana. Not a word. HeStoppedLovingHerToday This page intentionally left blank ...