Stars find new life on Cracker Barrel label

Nashville must love the marketing genius who came up with the idea of partnering with the Cracker Barrel restaurant chain to recycle country hits. Young and old stars, from Alison Krauss and Ricky Skaggs to Ernest Tubb and Patsy Cline, have found new life on the Cracker Barrel label with a captive audience that listens to the old songs while dining on the restaurant's specialties.

Alan Jackson's "Songs of Love and Heartache" presents 10 of the artist's biggest hits, along with two previously unreleased songs. The Grammy Award-winning neo-traditionalist offers a mix of old-school nostalgia and romantic optimism with such favorites as "Here in the Real World," "Gone Crazy," "Remember When" and " "You Can't Give Up on Love."

The two new tracks - "That's What I'd Be Like Without You" and "Nothing Sure Looked Good on You" - are solid, Jackson-style honky-tonk ballads, one for the present, one for the past: "You found your greener pastures in a mansion on a hill/With a flashy bar and car to drive and lots of time to kill/But my mind goes on remembering the days of me and you/When we were down to nothing/Nothing sure looked good on you."

Hard-core Jackson fans can tote away more than just music from the restaurant's "Alan Jackson Collection." An A.J. signature rocker, a mahogany candle ("depicting Alan's love of boats"), a cotton jacquard throw (adorned with Jackson's image), a coffee mug (emblazoned with Jackson's, er, mug), hot sauce ("Alan's personal favorite on eggs and his secret ingredient in chili") and assorted Christmas ornaments are among the objets d'art to be found on the way from the Chicken Fried Chicken to the checkout line.

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