Alan Jackson removed his hat… and it felt like the whole world held its breath. At George Jones’s funeral in 2013, he stood on the Grand Ole Opry stage and began singing a song that once almost got thrown away. “He said, ‘I’ll love you ‘til I die’…”—and suddenly, the room was still, overcome with silence and memory. “He Stopped Loving Her Today” wasn’t just a song anymore—it became a eulogy, a final hug, a ghost of every goodbye we’ve never fully healed from. The very track George Jones once rejected ended up saving his career and defining a genre. And that day, as Alan sang it through tears, he didn’t just say goodbye to a friend—he reminded the world why country music hurts so beautifully.
Introduction “He Stopped Loving Her Today” was recorded in 1979 and released on April 14, 1980, as the lead single…