On May 2, 2013, the last performer at George Jones’ funeral walked to the center of the Grand Ole Opry stage without saying a word. Alan Jackson had no speech. He had a guitar and one song. The song was “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” the 1980 record that became George Jones’ signature, a slow ballad about a man who never stops loving a woman until the day he is laid to rest. And George Jones, who had died six days earlier at 81, was lying in a flower-covered casket in front of that same stage.
It is hard to think of a song that has ever been sung in a room where it fit so exactly. But to understand why Alan Jackson was the one holding that guitar, you have to go back fourteen years, to another night on another Nashville stage.
A wreath on the Opry’s front door
The service was open to the public, and fans began lining up outside the Grand Ole Opry House at 3 a.m. On the building’s front door hung a wreath. Anyone who knew the song would have understood why: its chorus pictures exactly that, a wreath on a door where a man has died.
Inside, the casket rested in front of the stage where Jones had sung hundreds of times since joining the Opry in 1956. For nearly three hours, friends spoke and sang. Laura Bush, Barbara Mandrell, Randy Travis and many more took a turn. Vince Gill sang “Go Rest High on That Mountain” with Patty Loveless, and partway through, his voice cracked and gave way, and Loveless carried the lead. Gill later said plainly that he fell apart on that song.
The last song of the service
Then Alan Jackson came out. MusicRow, which covered the service, reported that he began a simple acoustic version and that the capacity crowd stood almost immediately. When he reached the first chorus, the room broke into loud applause, because everyone could hear how the words now fit the day.
By the end, his white cowboy hat was off. The reports from that day describe the moment a little differently, and it is worth being honest about that. The Associated Press wrote that Jackson held the hat over his heart for the final verse. A report published on Today.com said he removed it and waved it toward the sky, looking up, with tears on his cheeks. CMT reported that he took the hat off as the whole Opry House joined him on the last line. All of them agree on what he said when the song was done: “We love you, George.”
Then the pallbearers lifted the casket and carried it up the center aisle. As it went, the room filled with a recording of George Jones himself singing “When the Last Curtain Falls.”
Fourteen years earlier: the CMA night
In 1999, George Jones was nominated for Single of the Year at the CMA Awards for “Choices,” a hard, honest song about the wrong turns in his own life. The CMA invited him to perform it on the televised show, but only in a shortened version. Jones said no and stayed home.
The sources do not agree on just how short the slot was. A 2024 Whiskey Riff story put it at one minute. Other accounts say 90 seconds. A CMT column described the choice as having the song either severely shortened or dropped entirely. What nobody disputes is what happened next.
Alan Jackson was booked to sing his own hit, “Pop a Top.” Partway through, he stopped, signaled his band, and went straight into the chorus of “Choices.” When it was done, he walked off without a word, to a long standing ovation. He did not need to say anything.
What George did when he saw it
George Jones had refused to watch the show at all. In a 2024 interview with Whiskey Riff, his widow Nancy Jones recalled that she watched it in his room while he asked her to keep the sound low. Then Alan Jackson came on and changed songs. According to Nancy, George “liked to fell out of the chair,” and was soon laughing and clapping, sure his friend was in deep trouble.
She also recalled that George called Jackson afterward and scolded him, telling him he shouldn’t have done it. The answer that came back, as she remembered it, amounted to: I don’t care.
George did not forget it. Rolling Stone noted that not long after, when Jones sang “Choices” on a CBS special, he first thanked Jackson and sang a little piece of “Pop a Top” himself.
The part most fans never heard about
The 2013 funeral was not the first time Alan Jackson sang “He Stopped Loving Her Today” with a lot riding on it. In 1986, he was 27, new to Nashville, and working in the mailroom at The Nashville Network. He was at a taping of the TNN talent show You Can Be a Star and got the chance to sing the program into a commercial break. Of all the songs he could have picked for what might have been his only moment on TV, he picked that one.
One of the judges on that show was Keith Stegall, who would go on to produce nearly every Alan Jackson record, starting with his 1990 debut. So the same song sits at both ends of the story: an unknown mailroom kid singing it in 1986, and a country star singing it at the funeral of the man who made it famous in 2013.
Where the song went
George Jones famously doubted the song. Producer Billy Sherrill later said Jones hated the melody at first and kept singing it to a different tune. Released in 1980, it reached No. 1 on the country chart that July, to the surprise of nearly everyone involved, and it revived his career. Writers Bobby Braddock and Curly Putman won CMA Song of the Year with it in back-to-back years, Jones won a Grammy for the performance, and the record entered the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2007.
In 2018, marking George’s birthday, Jackson posted a photo of the two of them on Facebook. His caption borrowed the title of the song: “‘He stopped loving her today’ but we’ll never stop loving him.”
Some songs get sung at a funeral. This one was sung at the funeral of the man it belonged to, by the friend who had once stopped a live awards show for him. If you have never seen it, you can watch Alan Jackson’s performance at the Opry here, and listen to George Jones’ original recording of “He Stopped Loving Her Today” right after.
Sources
Associated Press, “Music City mourns country legend George Jones,” May 2, 2013 (via NBC Los Angeles and The Washington Times)
MusicRow, “Fans and Friends Say Farewell to George Jones,” May 2, 2013
Today.com, “Country music stars come out to bid George Jones final farewell,” May 2013
CMT News, “Stars Share Memories of George Jones at Memorial Service,” May 2013
Rolling Stone, “George Jones Honored With Star-Studded Grand Ole Opry Funeral Service,” May 2, 2013
WPLN, “Tears Shed as George Jones Laid to Rest,” May 2013
American Songwriter, “The Story Behind the Song Vince Gill Struggled to Sing at George Jones’ Funeral”
Whiskey Riff, interview with Nancy Jones on the 1999 CMA Awards, November 20, 2024
CMT, “Nashville Skyline: Alan Jackson Gets a Milestone Tribute”
Rolling Stone, “Flashback: George Jones Sings ‘Choices,’ Releases Comeback Album ‘Cold Hard Truth'”
Wide Open Country, on Alan Jackson’s 1986 You Can Be a Star appearance
The List, “Inside Alan Jackson’s Friendship With George Jones”