the simon sisters sang background on you're so vain.
the simon sisters sang background on you're so vain.
who sang background on you're so vain?
the simon sisters
unlike some of his contemporaries, jones painstakingly adhered to country music. jones never reached the top 40 of the "billboard hot 100" and almost never had any of his music played on mainstream popular music stations in his career. ironically, without even trying, jones' unabashed loyalty to strictly country arrangements attracted the admiration of musicians and songwriters from a wide range of genres. in an often-quoted tribute, frank sinatra called jones "the second best singer in america". in a "rolling stone" interview in 1969, bob dylan was asked what he thought was the best song released in the previous year and he replied, "george jones had one called 'small town laboring man'," and in his autobiography "chronicles", dylan states that in the early 1960s he was largely unimpressed by what he heard on the radio and admits "outside of maybe george jones, i didn't listen to country music either." country rock pioneer gram parsons was an avid george jones fan and covered jones' song "that's all it took" on his first solo album. in the documentary "gram parsons: fallen angel", pamela des barres recalls seeing parsons singing jones' song "she once lived here" at an empty whiskey a go go in los angeles: "it was my peak, "peak" moment, not sitting on jimmy page's amp...that was my peak moment." parsons reignited keith richards' interest in country music in the early seventies and after jones' death in 2013 the guitarist wrote, "he possessed the most touching voice, the most expressive ways of projecting that beautiful instrument of anyone i can call to mind. you heard his heart in every note he sang." richards recorded "say it's not you" with jones for "the bradley barn sessions" in 1994 and recalls in his autobiography hearing him sing for the first time when the rolling stones and jones were on the same show in texas in 1964: "they trailed in with tumbleweed following them, as if tumbleweed was their pet. dust all over the place, a bunch of cowboys. but when george got up, we went whoa, there's a master up there." in the documentary "the history of rock 'n' roll", mick jagger also cites jones as one of his favorite country singers. john prine mentions jones in his song "jesus the missing years". jones fan elvis costello had a surprise hit in the uk when he covered "a good year for the roses" in 1981. elliott smith told an interviewer about his idea of heaven: "george jones would be singing all the time. it would be like new york in reverse: people would be nice to each other for no reason at all, and it would smell good." in a 2001 interview with mark binelli from "rolling stone", leonard cohen asked, "have you heard george jones' last record "cold hard truth"? i love to hear an old guy lay out his situation. he has the best voice in america," and the day jones died, cohen performed "choices" on stage in winnipeg, canada as a tribute to the country legend. in 2013, robbie robertson told "uncut", "he was the ray charles of country music - the one who could make you cry with his voice...we wouldn't listen to country music, the guys in the band, but we'd listen to george jones..." robert plant told "uncut"'s michael bonner in 2014, "i now have to listen to george jones once a day. amazing singer. what a singer." james taylor, who wrote "bartender's blues" with jones in mind and sang background vocals with him on the recording, told "rolling stone", "he sounds like a steel guitar. it's the way he blends notes, the way he comes up to them, the way he crescendos and decrescendos. the dynamic of it is very tight and very controlled - it's like carving with the voice." other disparate artists who recorded with jones include dennis locorriere and ray sawyer of dr. hook, mark knopfler, the staples singers, leon russell, b.b king, blackberry smoke and linda ronstadt. in 1995, burt reynolds wrote, "he is to country music what spencer tracy is to movies."
george jones
after "paradise", lawrence was featured on the debut album of rapper mase, "harlem world" which had multi-platinum success. along with her brother kyra lawrence she wrote and sang background on jennifer lopez's debut album "on the 6". she also wrote and sang background for mariah carey’s group allure. charli baltimore recruited lawrence to be on her debut album "cold as ice" on the song "pull the alarm". the album was never released. lawrence also was at the helm of the album from lisa “left eye” lopes' group blaque. in 1999 hinda hicks covered lawrence’s "truly" from her debut album "one might say", and released it as a single from her album "hinda".
billy lawrence