“George Jones has left us. We have lost one of the most individual singers of all time. I cannot express the emptiness I feel.

“George was as country as it can get, but he was beyond any bag you want to put him in. He was pure American music without ever waving a flag – you can hear a million imitations on the radio every day – but there was, and ever will be, only one George Jones.

“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. Sinatra called him the second best singer ever. (The number one obviously being Frank!). I would contest that.

“I truly loved ‘the possum.’ He was a crazy as me, and just as free… and, oh boy, could he hang.”

– The Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards pens a moving tribute to country singer George Jones, who died last week.