3 Old Country Ballads That Are Actually Really Hard To Sing

Not all major hits are meant for all voices, and that’s okay. When it comes to these old country ballads, we’ll leave the vocals to the professionals.

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“He Stopped Loving Her Today” by George Jones

Even though this is easily one of the saddest songs in George Jones‘ catalog, it actually helped the singer have a comeback in 1980. At the time, Jones hadn’t had a No. 1 single in six years. Following his divorce from Tammy Wynette, he was, both professionally and personally, on the struggle bus. When Billy Sherill, the song’s producer, first showed him the song, Jones didn’t see its potential.

 “He thought it was too long, too sad, too depressing, and that nobody would ever play it,” Sherill once explained. “He hated the melody and wouldn’t learn it.”

Since its release, this track has become one of Jones’ most enduring hits, even reentering the charts after he died in 2013. To this day, there’s no one who sings it quite like the country music legend.

“Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain” by Willie Nelson

Yeah, this one’s a little depressing. Written by Fred Rose, this song was actually recorded by several artists, including Hank Williams Jr., before it reached Nelson.

Vocally, singing this one is a task. As Nelson said in an interview, though, the real challenge for him when singing this one is not letting his emotions get in the way.

“It’s really difficult to sing ‘Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain’ or ‘Always On My Mind’ without getting emotionally involved, especially when the audience gets emotionally involved and you feel their feelings,” he explained. “You can only wallow in your own misery for so long without saying, ‘Wait a minute, I want a drink!’”

“For The Good Times” by Ray Price

In 1970, songwriter Kris Kristofferson had a moment with both this song and “Sunday Morning Coming Down”, which was named Song of the Year at the CMAs that year. “For The Good Times” won that same award during the ACMs. There’s another thing these two songs have in common, though—they’re both pretty challenging to sing. That’s why we leave them to pros like Johnny Cash and Ray Price.

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