This may be just a haunting song of the loss of a child home. But it could be more than that. It could be a poignant - and mordant - critique of Nashville and the country music business as Malo found it in the 90s/early aughts. If so, it is in the same vein as Alan Jackson's allegorical "Murder on Music Row." I believe this song is Malo's assessment that country music has lost its soul and is hollow inside. The Mr. Jones to whom it is addressed is at one level the protagonist of the narrative but it is more deeply an address to George Jones, the still living at the time reigning king of Country music. Chris and Johnny, the "childhood friends" would make more sense if they were Kris and Johnny, which I haven't seen in any of the official lyrics, but even without evoking Kristoffersen, Johnny stands for Cash and I guess Chris could be Ledoux or someone else. Way off? You decide.