Live Recordings from the Louisiana Hayride

Until this release, the oldest--and virtually the only--live George Jones on record was a 1965 concert released on import in 1987. So these 16 songs, recorded on the popular Hayride radio broadcast between 1956 and 1969, are talismanic for Possum fans. Does it matter that the actual recording quality is predictably atrocious, with Jones's acoustic guitar mixed way above the other musicians (some of whom you sometimes can't hear at all)? Or that while the early tracks are full of spirit, the later ones tend to peter out, perhaps paralleling the rise of his celebrated drinking excesses? (Big exception: the oft-overlooked "Say It's Not You," from 1968). No, definitely not to the true fan, who will rightly welcome any opportunity to hear his inimitable style being shaped over time. Others, though, might not be so enthusiastic. --John Morthland