“Every Song Brings Back A Memory”: GRAND OLE OPRY CLASSIC COLLECTION At A Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Near You
Cracker Barrel Old Country Store and the Grand Ole Opry Release Four CDs with Recordings by More Than 50 Legendary and Contemporary Superstar Artists
The Grand Ole Opry and Cracker Barrel Old Country Store have teamed up to release a new GRAND OLE OPRY CLASSIC COLLECTION of CDs and a new superstar compilation called OUR KIND OF COUNTRY available exclusively at Cracker Barrel and Opry retail and online stores.
The CLASSIC COLLECTION consists of three different titles—DUETS, OUTLAWS, and CLASSIC HITS-- showcasing some of the most dynamic Opry performances culled from more than 50 years of live broadcasts. Country music’s biggest names are included. Porter. Dolly. Conway. Loretta. Willie. Waylon. And Patsy, Johnny, Garth, and Emmylou to name just a few.
Opry member Jim Ed Brown says he is excited not only to be included in the collection (his hit duet with Helen Cornelius “Fools” is found on DUETS), but to listen to all the CDs, himself. “Every song brings back a memory,” says Jim Ed, who was in the wings first at the Ryman Auditorium and later at the Opry House to witness first-hand many of the performances captured in the collection.
Jim Ed knows more than a thing or two about country classics. He’s been an Opry member for nearly 50 years, and he’s one of the only artists in all of country history to have recorded monster hits as a member of a group (The Browns, “The Three Bells”), as a solo artist (“Pop a Top”), and as half of a duet team (with Cornelius, “Fools,” “I Don’t Want to Have to Marry You.”) Winners of the CMA’s Top Vocal Duo Award in 1977, Jim Ed says he and Helen were humbled on awards night simply to be in the presence of fellow nominees such as superstar duos George Jones and Tammy Wynette and Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn, both of whom are also featured in the DUETS package.
The Arkansas native says that while there’s nothing like listening to all the different vintage sounds found on the three-CD collection, he still also gets a thrill performing his hit duets live. “The blend of the two voices is still magic to my ears,” he says. “I still enjoy singing with Helen.”