GAC Special Features Today's Singers, Timeless Songs

GAC Music Beat

By Ronna Rubin

Trace Adkins performs during the GAC taping of the Cracker Barrel Songs of the Year concert on November 5, 2006 at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville, TN.

Eric Church during the GAC taping of the Cracker Barrel Songs of the Year concert on November 5, 2006 at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville, TN.

Hank Williams Jr. also performs in the show.

Jan. 15, 2007 — There are chart-topping hit songs and then there are songs that go on to become classics. The classics typically stand the test of time because they are stories that remain relevant regardless of time or place and continue to touch and inspire new generations of fans.

GAC's Cracker Barrel Songs of the Year special, premiering 9 pm EST, Sat., Jan. 27, features stellar performances of country music classics — performed by today's stars — that have one thing in common: each has been awarded a song of the year prize by either the Grammys, the Country Music Association or the Academy of Country Music.

Cohost Trace Adkins pretty much sums up the special's common theme when he says, "We've got a great line up of artists singing their favorite songs ... songs about everything from love that's ended to love that's just begun, domestic bliss and domestic dysfunction, and men who've done wrong and women who are long gone."

The process of selecting a song came easily for Trisha Yearwood. "I chose to do John Denver's "Back Home Again" because it was easy for me. It's an easygoing, lighter type of fare," she says. "I usually do the big ballads and it's got a great story, and I love story songs."

The significance of cohost Jamie Denton's participation is that the Desperate Housewives star not only grew up in Nashville, but he was also the inspiration for "Strawberry Wine," the Deana Carter hit that is performed on the show by The Wreckers. "Deanna and I dated in high school," he explains. "We go way back and remain close friends." Carter adds, "(The song) is my life with Jamie ... my first love before anybody had a crush on him."

Carter and Heart's Ann and Nancy Wilson deliver an emotional performance of the Vince Gill hit, "Go Rest High On That Mountain." "Having lost our own mom, it's definitely tough to get through. It's waterproof mascara tonight," Ann Wilson said.

Additional performances include Josh Turner's "He Stopped Loving Her Today," Billy Currington's "Lucille," Josh Gracin's "The Dance," Jo Dee Messina's "When I Call Your Name" an Eric Church/Jack Ingram duet of "Dang Me," Trace Adkin's "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down," Blake Shelton's "The Gambler," the Ronnie Milsap/Lorrie Morgan duet of "Lost in The Fifties Tonight," Lonestar's "City of New Orleans" and the Trisha Yearwood/Michael McDonald duet, "I Still Believe In You."

Of his participation in the special — shot in Nashville's brand new Schermerhorn Symphony Center — blue-eyed soulster McDonald said, "Any time they say that it's in Nashville and that it's Nashville musicians, Nashville composers and classic country songs, you know I'm there if asked."

(Ronna Rubin, a 21-year veteran of the music industry, can be contacted at ronna@gacmusicbeat.com. Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service.)