"Jesus & Jones" Was Written For Trace Adkins
Trace Adkins will never forget the day he got a call from Nashville songwriter Casey Beathard. "There've been a couple times in the past when Casey has called me, and he'd go, 'Man, I just wrote a song that I think you'd like.' The first time he did that was 'Hot Mama.' The second time was 'Just Fishin'' So when Casey calls and tells you that, you listen. So when he called this time, he said, 'I just wrote a song that's you. It's autobiographical and it's just you.' So he sent it to me, and yeah, I knew halfway through the first verse I was gonna cut it. It's that struggle between the good side and the bad side, and it's been sung about before, but this is a different take on it."
Trace knew George Jones personally. In fact, they had the baby shower for one of his daughters at The Possum's house! "Some of the times I got to spend with George Jones, I will cherish. Birthday parties I got to go to, sitting in his house, watching television. George just loved to sit in his chair and watch TV, he didn't really want to talk a lot, he just wanted you to be there. Those were special times."
There's a moment in the song when you'll hear someone do a little impersonation of George Jones. Trace told Inside Country that was an accident: "We had to do a version where they edited it and took it out because some people thought it was some weird vocal thing I did. They didn't realize it was a tribute to him. Because George would do that. Of course I don't do him perfectly, but that was my best attempt. So that's what I was trying to do and people didn't get it, they were like, 'why is he making that weird noise' so I think they took it out." Well, not in THIS version! At about 2:50 in, you'll hear Trace say "Yeah" as George Jones.
