Drinking himself into near obscurity, despite being the greatest country singer of all time, No Show Jones got it together for the 1980 album and made one of the genuinely transcendent country documents. “He Stopped Loving Her Today” is the essence of country music—two daytime songwriters give Jones a weeper about a guy who never gets over his first love, who in turn lays a wreath on his casket, their only reunion. Pure schlag for anyone else, but Jones has that voice: part foghorn, part soul cry, all emotional crispiness. There is storytelling and joking on this album, corny backup singers, walking basslines, and Jones riding the bow of this hail mary, as desperate and well-crafted and speculative and intense as the best commercial music is.

– Sasha Frere-Jones