Jones, who hit rock bottom in the years following the divorce, accepted the responsibility for the failure of the marriage but vehemently denied Wynette's allegations in her autobiography that he beat her and fired a shotgun at her.

By the 1990s, however, both had been remarried for several years (Wynette to songwriter George Richey in 1978, Jones had to Nancy Sepulveda in 1983) and both were enjoying their recognition as country music legends.

In 1991 they performed together with Randy Travis at the CMA Awards and in 1994 Wynette joined Jones for his duet album The Bradley Barn Sessions on a remake of their 1976 number one "Golden Ring".

Their collaboration on One had been no doubt motivated by commercial factors as well; although Wynette had recorded a song with the British electronica group The KLF in late 1991 titled "Justified and Ancient (Stand by the JAMS)", which became a number one hit in eighteen countries the following year, and Jones had been recording albums regularly on the MCA Nashville label since 1991, they had both fallen out of favor with country radio's youth-obsessed format.

AllMusic calls One "a pleasant listen" and contends, "The main pleasure of the record is hearing George and Tammy together again after all these years, but if One is judged by their previous efforts, it looks rather thin."