Billy Sherrill’s career has landed in him in multiple halls of fame. The Musicians Hall of Fame, Country Music Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. He got his earliest success as a songwriter when David Houston charted two of his songs. One of those would win a Grammy. George Jones, Merle Haggard and Etta James would later record the song, but it was Houston who made the song his own…
Billy Sherrill was closely associated with George Jones and Tammy Wynette as both a songwriter and producer. While he was producing Wynette, he felt that the album needed another song. The two of them wrote the song and recorded it that day. It became one of the biggest hits in country music history…
Billy Sherrill pitched “He Stopped Loving Her Today” to George Jones but Jones thought it was too sad and was not a fan of the song originally. He had issues recording the song and wanted to scrap the idea altogether but Sherrill as the producer, persisted. The song is widely considered the greatest country song of all time.
