Cold Hard Truth - something George Jones avoided during much of his tumultuous life of drinking, drugging, and making classic records - was almost the singer's epitaph. This album was completed just days before his near-fatal auto accident in Tennessee; the urge to discern a deeper meaning, a coming-to-terms in every line, is a call that's almost too easy to make.

Still, compared to Jones' work for MCA/Nashville over the past decade, Cold Hard Truth does dig deeper, both in terms of pointed, self-referential lyrics and stunning vocal performances. According to the liner notes by Asylum Records president Evelyn Shriver, Jones was given carte blanche to do 'the record he would have done 20 years ago if he had been sober.'

From the very first track, it's clear that producer Keith Stegall was determined to keep the essence on country music intact, both in terms of not candy-coating the overall production - the Achilles' heel of many past Jones albums - and in keeping the singer's spot-on, emotionally engaged vocals front and center. ~ Stereophile

• Choices
• The Cold Hard Truth
• Sinners & Saints
• Day After Forever
• Ain't Love a Lot Like That
• Our Bed of Roses
• Real Deal
• This Wanting You
• You Never Know Just How Good You've Got It
• When The Last Curtain Falls