LOS ANGELES (Columbia/Legacy Records) - Columbia/Legacy's remarkable "George Jones: My Very Special Guests" is an expanded reissue of Jones' trend-setting 1979 duets album of the same name. Compiled by the acclaimed reissue producer Gregg Geller, the two-disc sets adds to the original album's 10 songs 27 bulletproof Jones duets recorded during the '80s and '90s. The net result is a showcase, presented in a musically rich sequence, of the bulk of the most musically essential duets Jones has recorded since the late 1970s.
Beginning with the entirety of the 1979 "My Very Special Guests" - an album that helped kick off the vogue for veteran singers teaming up with various other singers for album collections - Jones performs with Linda Ronstadt, Elvis Costello, James Taylor, and the late Waylon Jennings, as well as Tammy Wynette, with whom Jones recorded his extraordinary duets during the 1960's and 1970's. Throughout the remainder of the set, Jones sings with newer country legends such as Alan Jackson, Patty Loveless, and Randy Travis, plus mythic country peers such as Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Loretta Lynn, Buck Owens, and the late Johnny Cash. Occasionally Jones steps out with artists beyond Nashville, such as B.B. King, Shelby Lynne, and the late Ray Charles. The 27 added tracks were selected with an ear toward preserving the spirit of the original.
The funny thing about duet recordings is that, while they rarely are approached casually, they sometimes end up taking a backseat to an artist's regular work, as though they are by definition curiosities, footnotes, or novelties. Certainly Jones, who for 50 years has treated even his most laid-back or humorous songs with a steely-eyed intensity and technical explosiveness, never intended his duet work to take second place to anything. The revised and expanded "My Very Special Guests," a definitive demonstration of the great Jones manner interacting with other resourceful singers, makes that fact explosively clear.
D I S C O N E
1. Night Life—with Waylon Jennings
2. Bartender's Blues—with James Taylor
3. Here We Are—with Emmylou Harris
4. I've Turned You To Stone—with Linda Ronstadt
5. It Sure Was Good—with Tammy Wynette
6. I Gotta Get Drunk—with Willie Nelson
7. Proud Mary—with Johnny Paycheck
8. Stranger In The House—with Elvis Costello
9. I Still Hold Her Body (But I Think I've Lost Her Mind) —with Dennis & Ray of Dr. Hook
10. Will The Circle Be Unbroken—with Pop and Mavis Staples
11. A Few Ole Country Boys—with Randy Travis
12. It Hurts As Much In Texas (As It Did In Tennessee) —with Ricky Van Shelton
13. You Never Looked That Good When You Were Mine —with Patti Page
14. All I Want To Do In Life -with Janie Fricke
15. Wonderful World Outside—with Ralph Stanley
16. You Can't Do Wrong And Get By—with Ricky Skaggs
17. You Don't Seem To Miss Me—with Patty Loveless
18. Patches—with B.B. King
D I S C T W O
1. A Good Year For The Roses—with Alan Jackson
2. Yesterday's Wine—with Merle Haggard
3. Our Love Was Ahead Of Its Time—Deborah Allen
4. We Sure Make Good Love—with Loretta Lynn
5. Size Seven Round (Made Of Gold)—with Lacy J. Dalton
6. I Got Stripes—with Johnny Cash
7. Fiddle And Guitar Band—with Charlie Daniels
8. We Didn't See A Thing—with Ray Charles, featuring Chet Atkins
9. The Love Bug—with Vince Gill
10. Love's Gonna Live Here—with Buck Owens
11. If I Could Bottle This Up—with Shelby Lynne
12. If You Can Touch Her At All—with Lynn Anderson
13. All That We've Got Left—with Vern Gosdin
14. This Bottle (In My Hand)—with David Allan Coe
15. Talking To Hank—with Mark Chesnutt
16. Never Bit A Bullet Like This—with Sammy Kershaw
17. The Race Is On—with Travis Tritt
18. I've Been There—with Tim Mensy
19. Traveller's Prayer—with Sweethearts Of The Rodeo
