It Don't Get Any Better Than This (CD - 1998)

Personnel: George Jones, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Johnny Counterfeit, Bobby Bare, T. Graham Brown (vocals); Mark Casstevens, Buddy Cannon (acoustic guitar); Pete Wade, Keith Gattis (electric guitar); John Hughey, Scott Sanders (steel guitar); Randy Howard (mandolin, fiddle); Larry Franklin (fiddle); The Nashville String Machine (strings); Terry McMillan (harmonica); Wayne Toups (accordion); David Briggs (piano, organ); Hargus Robbins (piano); Gary Smith (clavinet); Farrell Morris (vibraphone); Larry Paxton (bass, tic tac); Paul Leim (drums, tamborine); Eddie Bayers (drums); Larry Marrs, Bergen White, Johm Wesley Ryles, dennis Wilson, Louis Nunley, Jennifer O'Brian (background vocals).

Principally recorded at Javelina Recording Studio and Woodland Studios, Nashville, Tennessee.

Personnel: George Jones (vocals, guitar); Johnny Conterfeit, Merle Haggard, T. Graham Brown, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Bobby Bare (vocals); Mark Casstevens, Buddy Cannon (acoustic guitar); Keith Gattis, Pete Wade (electric guitar); John Hughey, Scott Sanders (steel guitar); Randy Howard (mandolin); Larry Franklin (fiddle); Nashville String Machine (strings); Terry McMillan (harmonica); Wayne Toups (accordion); David Briggs (piano, organ); Hargus "Pig" Robbins (piano); Gary W. Smith (Clavinet); Farrell Morris (vibraphone); Paul Leim (drums, tambourine); Eddie Bayers (drums); Larry Marrs, Dennis Wilson , Jennifer O'Brian, John Wesley Ryles, Bergen White, Louis Dean Nunley (background vocals).

Audio Mixer: John Guess.

Recording information: Javelina Recording Studio, Nashville, TN; Javeline Recording Studio, Nashville, TN; Woodland Studios, Nashville, TN.

Photographer: Michael Gomez .

Arranger: Bergen White.

"Another year, another George Jones album," you say? Well, sure. If you want to look at it that way, how about "Another day, another 24-hour supply of oxygen?" What's amazing about Jones is not how his art has developed. Aside from a little '90s-Country production flavor, not much here is different from what he's been doing for the last couple of decades. Like Muddy Waters or Richard Thompson, Jones has spent years exploring variations on the same theme, and along the way, has become the unchallenged master of his genre. IT DON'T GET ANY BETTER THAN THIS isn't going to change anybody's perceptions about Ol' Possum. Of course, since most people's perception of him is that of the greatest living country singer, there's not much cause for complaint. minimize