Still Playin' Possum: Music and Memories of George Jones Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.5

Still Playin' Possum: Music and Memories of George Jones Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 24, 2025

If one were to analyze George Jones' career through the prism of the so-called "mainstream" charts by Billboard, meaning their Hot 100 Singles and Top Albums aggregations, he would hardly seemed to have mattered much, if at all. His biggest "hit single" on the main singles chart was 1959's "White Lightning" (written by the Big Bopper), which made it only to a relatively paltry 73. None of his charting albums managed to even climb into the Top 100, aside from 1992's Walls Can Fall, which, like that aforementioned single, stalled out in the 70s of the album chart. But of course Jones for all of his success was not a "mainstream" artist, but rather proudly a "country boy" in both mien and musical output, and his airplay and sales on the country side of things was decidedly more impressive than what those "bigger" charts might suggest. This loving combo platter of performances and biographical data provides quite a bit of information, both musical and otherwise, about Jones, who had his fair share of personal demons which tended to interfere with his ability to consistently perform at the highest level. The fact that so many country superstars joined to help celebrate Jones should certainly suggest that his legacy has managed to outshine any intermittent issues he may have had.

The concert features the following songs and performers:

• “Who’s Gonna Fill Their Shoes” – performed by Jamey Johnson
• “The Race Is On” – performed by Travis Tritt
• “Why Baby Why” – performed by Dierks Bentley
• “A Picture of Me Without You” – performed by Lorrie Morgan
• “She Still Thinks I Care” – performed by Sara Evans
• “Golden Ring” – performed by Wynonna and Jamey Johnson
• “I Always Get Lucky With You” – performed by Gretchen Wilson
• “Same Ole Me” – performed by Trace Adkins and The Isaacs
• “One Woman Man” – performed by Tim Watson
• “The One I Loved Back Then” – performed by Tracy Lawrence and Tim Watson
• “The Blues Man” – performed by Sam Moore
• “Choices” – performed by Aaron Lewis
• “White Lightning” – performed by Justin Moore
• “The Grand Tour” – performed by Tanya Tucker
• “Window Up Above” – performed by Uncle Kracker
• “The Door” – performed by Travis Tritt
• “A Few Ole Country Boys” – performed by Joe Nichols with Justin Moore and Randy Travis
• “Yesterday’s Wine” – performed by Charlie Starr and Jamey Johnson
• “If Drinkin’ Don’t Kill Me” – performed by Joe Nichols
• “Bartender’s Blues” – performed by Jelly Roll
• “He Stopped Loving Her Today” – performed by Brad Paisley
• “I Don’t Need Your Rockin’ Chair” – performed by Michael Ray, Tracy Byrd, Janie Fricke and Dillon Carmichael

Still Playin' Possum: Music and Memories of George Jones Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Still Playin' Possum: Music & Memories of George Jones is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Mercury Studios with an AVC encoded 1080i transfer in 1.78:1. This piece evidently aired on PBS (it would seem to be tailor made for "pledge week" for the southern latitudes of our country), and has a perfectly decent if kind of unremarkable video appearance. The good news is the stage is quite often relatively well lit, if tending to be bathed in blue tones a lot of the time, and that helps to support detail levels on everything from weathered country faces to faded jeans and some more luxe outfits for the women. Archival video and stills of Jones can understandably vary in quality. The interlaced presentation can reveal a few combing artifacts for the eagle eyed.

Still Playin' Possum: Music and Memories of George Jones Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Kind of surprisingly (at least to me), there's no surround audio option on this disc and instead listeners are offered a fine if obviously narrower LPCM 2.0 option. There is some discernable separation on tap, but the massed rhythm instruments can tend to come at the ears as a kind of compacted entity, though there is certainly clear delineation when, for example, a fiddler or pedal steel soloist has his moment. Singing sounds fine throughout. There are no subtitles available.

Still Playin' Possum: Music and Memories of George Jones Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

There are no supplements of any kind on the Blu-ray disc. The package includes a DVD copy, which probably makes this release seem even more quaint than it already did.

Still Playin' Possum: Music and Memories of George Jones Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

This is most likely going to be a niche item for many, despite Jones' long and (no pun intended) notable career. As alluded to above, this is exactly the sort of "pledge week" concert that PBS likes to offer, and if you're a fan of such efforts, this will certainly pass muster. For Jones and/or country music fans if for no one else, technical merits are generally solid and Playin' Possum comes Recommended.