George Jones

Country vet George Jones has outlived Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings, and his trail of stardom, excess, and substance abuse has included a brutally hefty pile of releases and a drunk-driving charge incurred on a lawn mower. (Whether that last one is actually true or not, Jones himself has embraced the story with all due humor.) What really endures, though, is the masculine-yet-honeyed voice that made country standards out of such songs as “He Stopped Loving Her Today” and “The Grand Tour.” 2008’s Burn Your Playhouse Down collects unreleased Jones duets with Vince Gill, Keith Richards, ex-wife Tammy Wynette, and others, while this year’s The Great Lost Hits slaps together songs that never before made it to CD.

Updated 11/12/2010