George 'Possum' Jones, Country Music Icon, Dies at 81

And, of course, there's the obligitory reference to his 1980 recording of "He Stopped Loving Her Today" - a song he disliked, regarding it 'the most maudlin, depressing thing he's ever heard.'

But ain't that Country Music?

From the L.A. Times:

"From 1955 to 2005, Jones put 167 records on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart — a history-making 143 of them in the top 40 — and won two Grammy Awards. Along the way, he won admirers as diverse as Frank Sinatra, James Taylor and the Who's Pete Townshend.

Jones, 81, died Friday in Nashville, a little more than a week after being hospitalized for a fever and irregular blood pressure, ending a long, tumultuous life that frequently outstripped the songs he sang in terms of sheer drama.

"The world has lost the greatest country singer of all time. Amen," Merle Haggard said Friday in a statement."