(5-CD LP-sized box set plus 48 page book) George Jones was coming off a successful Mercury Records contract when his producer Pappy Daily took him to United Artists Records in 1962. Instantly, he became UA's top country star and got off to a powerful start with Dickey Lee's ballad She Thinks I Still Care, an award-winning performance at the time, a country music standard today.
Over the next two and a half years, Jones recorded originals along with songs written by some of Nashville's greatest, among them Jack Clement (Not What I Had In Mind), Justin Tubb (Big Fool Of The Year), Hank Cochran and Harlan Howard (You Comb Her Hair) and Freddie Hart (My Tears Are Overdue).
Even then, Jones's peers began embracing his still-evolving singing style, rooted in his admiration for both Roy Acuff and Hank Williams, as a vocal Gold Standard. At UA, that style continued developing while at the same time he expanded his scope by teaming with the truly great female duet partner: Melba Montgomery. Together, they created an amazing, even hypnotic traditional vocal synergy on hits including We Must Have Been Out Of Our Minds and to this day, Jones considers his work with Melba his best work with a female singer. On tour, his antics still centered around his legendary boozing and hell-raising yet Jones's studio output for UA was amazingly consistent, the accompaniment traditional though the Jordanaires frequently appeared on various UA sessions.
Along with revealing the complete scope of Jones's two and a half years, the collection also includes rare photos and extensive, detailed liner notes by Rich Kienzle including comments from Jones, Montgomery and the late Buck Owens.
