George Jones Hospitalized

A statement from his publicist, Kirt Webster, says Jones went in for an annual checkup on Wednesday, and doctors required him to stay overnight to continue monitoring him.

He is expected to be released Thursday.

The 79-year-old joked in the statement that he didn’t want to drive back to his home just outside Nashville in cold weather so he decided to stay at the hospital.

Jones has earned numerous awards and charted more than a dozen No. 1 hits throughout his long career, including the classic song “He Stopped Loving Her Today.”

He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1992.