The Gospel Collection

Disc 1
1	Amazing Grace 3:23
2	It Is No Secret 3:12
3	Just a Little Talk With Jesus 2:11
4	Where We'll Never Grow Old 3:19
5	Swing Low, Sweet Chariot 2:50
6	Why Me Lord? 2:58
7	I'll Fly Away 3:00
8	Precious Memories / Patti Page 4:16
9	Just a Closer Walk With Thee 3:01
10	In the Garden 3:28
11	Lonesome Valley 3:39
12	When Mama Sang (The Angels Stopped to Listen) 3:32
Disc 2
1	Peace in the Valley 3:26
2	What a Friend We Have in Jesus 4:13
3	Softly and Tenderly 3:08
4	Lily of the Valley 2:35
5	The Old Rugged Cross 3:13
6	Leaning on the Everlasting Arms 3:04
7	Family Bible 3:33
8	Mansion Over the Hilltop / Vestal Goodman 3:34
9	If I Could Hear My Mother Pray Again 3:19
10	How Beautiful Heaven Must Be 3:21
11	Jesus Hold My Hand 3:31
12	I Know a Man Who Can / Barry Smith 4:02

Barnes & Noble

Billy Sherrill was coaxed out of retirement to produce his buddy George Jones's double-CD The Gospel Collection, and the resulting music -- powerful and stirring -- honors the best in both men's legendary work. Possum isn't going through the motions here: He unabashedly asserts the conviction and deep feeling of a true believer in the song selections. When it gets down to brass tacks, however, he stays close to his honky-tonk meal ticket, his iconoclastic phrasings blurring the line between the blues and hard country while a small combo of seasoned Nashville session players provide the twang of the guitar, the cascading notes of the saloon piano, and the cry of the pedal steel. But this is a classic Sherrill production, with an orchestra, strings, and rich harmonies anchoring the meditative numbers and enhancing the toe-tappers with lofty grandeur. The 24 songs feature fewer enduring warhorses (such as "Amazing Grace" and Thomas A. Dorsey's "Peace in the Valley") than bedrock Baptist hymns -- the older the better. Jones takes "Where We'll Never Grow Old" at a slow, deliberate pace, transforming its images of heavenly reconciliation into something far bluesier than most congregations ever hear. And it's a good bet that the hymn of invitation "Softly and Tenderly" isn't usually performed with Floyd Cramer–style "slip note" piano fills and pungent, top-strings guitar solos. But the text is the thing here, and Jones's treatment of these sacred themes is so beautiful it almost defies description. You can take the honky-tonker out of church, but you can't take the church out of the honky-tonker. Somebody say amen to that. David McGee

All Music Guide

In 2003, could there be anything more desirable in country music than George Jones reunited with "retired" producer Billy Sherrill? Hardly. Some will complain that the pair should have worked on an album of countrypolitan or love or drinking songs instead of a two-CD, 24-track collection of gospel tunes, but that's just cryin' in their beer. After all, this is a George Jones record, and there isn't a thing the man sings that doesn't have the weathered sound of whiskey, women, and toil in the honky tonks. Jones was supposedly inspired to make this recording during his long recovery from a serious car wreck and a subsequent case of pneumonia. Musically, the material is choice, striking, moving, and full of emotion. Jones is incapable of singing gospel music without emotion. The set is split along traditionals such as "Amazing Graze," "Just a Closer Walk With Thee," "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," "Peace in the Valley," "The Old Rugged Cross," and about eight others, and classic country gospel tunes like Stuart Hamblen's "It Is No Secret," Cleavant Derricks' "Just a Little Talk With Jesus," the Vaughan/Rowe staple "If I Could Hear My Mother Pray Again," and the Jimmie Davis/Jack Campbell stalwart "I Know a Man Who Can." What matters ultimately is the performance, though, since Jones has released other gospel collections on various labels. Sherrill's silky soundscapes add a lot to Jones' voice, which is no longer the instrument it once was. There is no doubt he is still a great singer, but his ability to throw his voice around and hit the higher notes in his baritone register is all but gone. With his more limited stylistic vernacular, however, Jones digs deep and gets the tunes across, making them swing and sway with emotion and honky tonk swagger. The edges one can hear now are far from crags and they do add a certain hard-won wisdom and change to his sound, but one can't help but miss the smooth delivery of his earlier years. Nonetheless, these songs ring truer than any collection of gospel music Jones has ever released, thanks to Sherrill being able to get the finest performance possible out of him. If you had to pick one Jones gospel record, it should be this one, hands down. Thom Jurek

Blender

What makes Jones country's greatest male voice is that he sings like melody is his true religion. Alan Light