George Jones Death, Grand Ole Opry Funeral: Dead Country Music Legend May 2nd Public Nashville Ceremony

Country Music Hall of Fame inductee George Jones, who passed away last week at the age of 81, will be put to rest in Nashville, Tennessee. His funeral will be held on Thursday May 2 at the Grand Ole Opry House. The service will be open to the public with a private ceremony the night before for friends and family. Jones' family is asking for donations to the Grand Ole Opry House Fund and/or the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in lieu of flowers.

"Today someone else has become the greatest living singer of traditional country music, but there will never be another George Jones," said Bobby Braddock last week, the Country Music Hall of Fame songwriter who wrote 29 songs with Jones. "No one in country music has influenced so many other artists."

Fellow legendary musician Alan Jackson spoke of Jones in a 2011 interview:

"He just knows how to pull every drop of emotion out of it of the songs if it's an emotional song or if it's a fun song he knows how to make that work. It's rare. He was a big fan of Hank Williams Sr. like me. He tried to sing like Hank in the early days. I've heard early cuts. And the difference is Hank was a singer and he was a great writer, but he didn't have that natural voice like George. Not many people do. That just sets him apart from everybody."

George Jones was in the middle of his final tour, naturally entitled "The Grand Tour," which was set to end with a sold-out all-star show in Nashville on November 22. This epic good bye show was also set to include some guest performers including Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, Dierks Bentley, Kenny Rogers, Tanya Tucker, Cyndi Lauper, Kid Rock and seventeen more stars. Unfortunately this epic good-bye show has now been cancelled. No word on whether this will perhaps turn into a tribute concert for the late, great legend.