Welcome back to Country Music 4 Ever! Today is part seven of my "Story Behind the Song" series with one of the saddest songs in the history of music, "He Stopped Loving Her Today" by George Jones.

"He Stopped Loving Her Today" was written by Bobby Braddock and Curly Putman in the late 1970s and was recorded in 1980 during a low point in George Jones' life. Substance abuse was ruining both his personal and professional life. George's producer, Billy Sherrill was scouting new material for George to help revamp his career after several singles and albums lacked the success he used to have.

Billy knew he found something special when he found "He Stopped Loving Her Today" because not only was it an amazing song, but it was also written by the same duo that previously had success with the Tammy Wynette hit "D-I-V-O-R-C-E." Billy loved the idea of a man's unconditional love for an ex, but he thought it needed something more. It turned out what it needed was a spoken-word verse about the man's ex visiting him one last time at his funeral.

Even though George was on the mend at the time of recording the song, it was still a challenge to get a good performance from him. Billy ended up needing to piece together multiple recordings to get a finished product that sounded good. It also became difficult for George to record the spoken-word verse without slurring the words.

Despite the struggle of recording it, "He Stopped Loving Her Today" put George back on top of the country music world and saved his career.

George dealt with a lot of public struggles throughout his life, but when it came to music, he had a way of drawing people in to hear what he had to say. He will always be one of the greats.

Thanks for reading. I'll be back soon with part eight of this series going behind the scenes of a hit by the red headed stranger.