Johnny Paycheck - Sings George Jones
In this episode, we're featuring a 1991 tribute from Johnny Paycheck to George Jones: Johnny Paycheck Sings George Jones. It's true that Paycheck's vocals were on the decline in the early '90s, having recently served a 22-month prison sentence, but to hear this album is a country music timepiece: Jones was the man who gave Paycheck his first regular gig in Nashville - playing bass and steel guitar as part of The Jones Boys - and the two remained close friends until Paycheck's death in 2003. There were those who suggested George Jones' iconic warble was based on Johnny Paycheck's own sound, or vice versa - but as a boss, friend and mentor, Paycheck and Jones were inextricably linked until the very end - indeed, it was Jones who paid for Paycheck's burial plot in Nashville when he passed. That fact alone makes this tribute album required listening.