[smalltownslick]

I don’t want to go there. I can’t stand Billy Sherrill. Every record he ever produced had all the same elements. He had a horrible habit of taking people who already had their own identity and taking them into his fold And he did make a few good songs for George, as he did make a few good songs for Charlie Rich, and a few good songs for.....But that was the way he worked. He would take that one great song, and with every succeeding release, water it down just a bit...I just don’t like Billy Sherrill at all.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

I don't like the trend that country music took between 1975 and the present, and if Billy Sherrill is partly to blame, it is not to his credit. But He Stopped Loving Her Today truly is a masterpiece. If you listen to George Jones playing it in concert, it's a fine song, but not the studio gem that Billy Sherrill produced. The undisputed contribution of Sherrill is the timing of the lyrics, the subtle way is dawns on the listener that this cat is dead. The device of placing the spoken narration just where he did was nothing short of brilliant, just as the audience is taking in the circumstances.

I will, quite frankly, defer to you superior knowledge. But this one song is something that all involved should be proud of. To get back on topic, that one letter is something Clarence Thomas and George Jones both should be proud. One for having the good manners and thoughtfulness to write it, the other for occasioning it.