March 8, 1999
Web posted at: 2:21 a.m. EST (0721 GMT)

NASHVILLE, Tennessee (Reuters) -- Legendary country singer George Jones remained in critical condition Sunday night, but his status was upgraded to stable with a ruptured liver and a bruised lung suffered in a car crash, a hospital spokesman said.

Jones had regained consciousness and "his doctor said he is doing very well considering the traumatic injury he's been through," Vanderbilt University Medical Center spokesman Wayne Wood said.

Jones, 67, who has sold more than 30 million albums, lost control of his sport utility vehicle Saturday afternoon and hit a concrete bridge near his Williamson County farm while talking on his cellular telephone to his stepdaughter, said Evelyn Shriver, the president of Asylum records.

Shriver said Jones called her about 10 or 15 minutes before the crash and tried unsuccessfully to play newly recorded songs for her on his car cassette player.

She said when she insisted on coming to his house to hear the songs, Jones hung up and apparently called stepdaughter Adina Estes.

"We're going to watch him very closely. The liver injury is what we're most concerned about at this juncture," said Dr. John Morris, head of the trauma unit at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where Jones was airlifted after the crash.

Jones remained heavily sedated and was hooked up to a ventilator, although a collapsed lung has shown signs of improvement, and he has squeezed his wife's hand, Wood said.

Troopers investigating the crash found no sign that alcohol was involved, State Safety Department spokeswoman Dana Keeton said.

During his long career Jones waged long public battles with alcoholism and drug abuse and he made and lost fortunes as his career see-sawed. But he managed to put his problems behind him. "In this business, you just have to clean up your act and that's what I did," he said once.

Jones, whose signature song was "He Stopped Loving Her Today," is one of the few "old timers" of country music who has continued to consistently produce hits. Many were duets with the late Tammy Wynette, to whom he was married from 1969 to 1976.

Jones was just 24 when he had his first number one country hit in 1955 with "Why Baby Why." He followed up with "White Lightning" in 1959, "Tender Years" and "She Thinks I Still Care" in 1961, and "Walk Through This World With Me" in 1967.

In the 1970s he scored number ones with "The Grand Tour" and "The Door" both in 1974. He and Wynette teamed up for three number one hits. The first was "We're Gonna Hold On" in 1974. After their divorce two years later, they hit the top spot with "Golden Ring" and "Near You."

"He Stopped Loving Her Today," earned him Single of the Year award from the Country music Association in 1980 and he won the association's 1986 Video of the Year award for "Who's Gonna Fill Their Shoes?"

He was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1992.

The accident occurred about a mile from the 90-acre farm in Williamson County that Jones shared with his fourth wife, Nancy Sepulveda.