Notes: Bold face indicates Billboard Top Country Single followed by chart number; (I) indicates previously unreleased.

"By the time he recorded I AM WHAT I AM, writes Indiana University School of Music Associate Professor Glenn Gass in his liner notes, "he had already weathered a quarter century of changes in country music -- honky-tonk, rockabilly, Nashville Sound, Countrypolitan, Outlaw rebellion -- and had been alternately shunned and embraced by the Nashville establishment." But it doesn't stop there. Jones' 6-year marriage to Tammy Wynette had ended in 1975, plunging him into a "personal disintegration" of drugs and alcohol that shocked even his closest friends and affected his career in truly bizarre ways. Though an ample catalog of hit singles and duets kept him on the charts for the last half of the '70's, Jones' crash-and-burn tactics threatened self-immolation. In December 1979, Jones was finally persuaded to enter rehab, recovering sufficiently to stage one of his most legendary comebacks, ever. Credit producer Billy Sherrill for spending a year tailoring the Curly Putnam/Bobby Braddock song "He Stopped Loving Her Today" until it fit Jones temperament like an old hat. The song turned into his first newly-recorded #1 C&W hit since 1974. It mustered enough momentum to send two more singles into the Top 10, "If Drinkin' Don't Kill Me (Her Memory Will)" and Tom T. Hall's "I'm Not Ready Yet." It also gave Jones the only platinum studio recording of his career. Other tailspins would follow in the '80's and '90's, of course, but if ever there was an album to merit the torchy comparison of George Jones to Frank Sinatra or Chet Baker, this is it.

Notes: Bold face indicates best-selling title; (U) indicates previously unreleased as a 78 rpm record.

The story is told of the Carter Family's "discovery" in 1927 by RCA Records field recording supervisor Ralph Peer. They were directed by Alvin Pleasant (A.P.) Carter, but were dominated by the brilliant singing of his wife Sara (who played guitar and autoharp) and the stunning guitar playing of her cousin Maybelle Addington (who married A.P.'s brother Ezra). With the advent of the Carter Family (and Jimmy Rodgers, also "discovered" by Peer), country music leaped from the string band tradition to focus on distinctive vocals with instrumental backing, putting the music on competitive footing with other popular styles. As Ed Kahn's liner notes explain, A.P. was a master at scouring British and Appalachian balladry, 19th century music, spirituals, even blues, looking for songs in the public domain that he could attach his name to for copyright purposes, a strategy pioneered by Peer. The Carter Family had become established stars by May 1935, when the first 17 tracks here were recorded during a week of sessions in New York. Many of these sides, especially "Can The Circle Be Unbroken," "I'm Thinking Tonight Of My Blue Eyes," "River Of Jordan" and "The Storms Are On the Ocean" were catalog staples, issued and reissued on ARC's Banner, Melotone, Oriole, Perfect, Romeo, Conqueror, Okeh, and Columbia labels. The final three tracks were recorded in Chicago in October 1940, less than three years before the Carter Family's final performance together. Maybelle, of course, went on to tour and record with her daughters Anita, Helen and June -- who married Carl Smith in 1952 (their daughter Carlene was born in 1955) and later wed Johnny Cash in 1968.