Every now and then, a song comes along that feels less like a performance and more like a prayer for what we’re about to lose.
That’s what “Who’s Gonna Fill Their Shoes” was — George Jones looking out over the changing landscape of country music and asking a question that still echoes decades later.
When he released it in 1985, country was already shifting — new sounds, new faces, a faster world.
But George wasn’t scolding anyone; he was remembering.
He was thinking about the men and women who built the road he and every artist traveled — Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Lefty Frizzell.
He wasn’t just naming legends. He was naming family.
The song hits different because George sang it like a man who’d been there — who’d stood beside those giants, shared a stage, a drink, a story.
You can hear the pride in his voice, but also a touch of sorrow, that quiet ache that comes when you realize time doesn’t stop for anyone, not even heroes.
And yet, “Who’s Gonna Fill Their Shoes” isn’t a sad song — it’s a challenge.
It’s George reminding every listener, every young artist, that the heart of country music isn’t fame or fortune.
It’s respect.
It’s storytelling.
It’s truth — sung from a place that can’t be faked.
Nearly forty years later, the question still stands.
And maybe that’s the beauty of it:
We’re all still trying to answer it, one song at a time.
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Lyrics
You know this old world is full of singers
But just a few are chosen
They tear your heart out when they sing
Imagine life without them
All your radio heroes
Like the outlaw that walks through Jesse’s dreams
No, there will never be another
Red-headed stranger
A man in black and Folsom prison blues
The Okie from Muskogee
Or hello darling
Lord, I wonder who’s gonna fill their shoes
Who’s gonna fill their shoes?
Who’s gonna stand that tall?
Who’s gonna play the Opry
And the Wabash cannonball?
Who’s gonna give their heart and soul
To get to me and you?
Lord, I wonder who’s gonna fill their shoes
God bless the boys from Memphis
Blue Suede shoes and Elvis
Much too soon, he left this world in tears
They tore up the 50s
Old Jerry Lee and Charlie
And “go cat go” still echoes through the years
You know the heart of country music
Still beats in Luke The Drifter
You can tell it when he sang, I Saw The Light
Old Marty, Hank, and Lefty
Why I can feel them right here with me
On this silver Eagle rolling through the night
Who’s gonna fill their shoes?
Who’s gonna stand that tall?
Who’s gonna play the Opry
And the Wabash cannonball?
Who’s gonna give their heart and soul
To get to me and you?
Lord, I wonder who’s gonna fill their shoes
Yes, I wonder who’s gonna fill their shoes