Cracker Barrel Old Country Store® will release Bakersfield: Deluxe Edition, an exclusive and expanded edition of the critically-acclaimed album from 20x GRAMMY Award-winning artist Vince Gill and famed steel guitarist, Paul Franklin, on Monday, Jan. 27, 2014. The album pays tribute to the “Bakersfield” sound by performing songs from two of Bakersfield’s favorite musical sons, Buck Owens and Merle Haggard. Bakersfield: Deluxe Edition will contain four additional songs (for a total of 14) and will retail for $11.99 at all Cracker Barrel Old Country Store® locations and online at crackerbarrel.com. One day later, the digital version of Bakersfield: Deluxe Edition will be available for purchase via iTunes and Amazon.com on Tuesday, Jan. 28.
Beginning today, Cracker Barrel Old Country Store® will offer Bakersfield: Deluxe Edition CDs for pre-order exclusively at crackerbarrel.com. All CDs sold during the pre-order period will be shipped to purchasers on Jan. 27, the official day of release.
Gill and Franklin shared producing duties on the album and were backed by a stellar band made up of John Hobbs on piano; Greg Morrow on drums; Willie Weeks and Brad Albin on bass; J. T. Corenflos on electric rhythm guitar; and Time Jumpers Kenny Sears, Larry Franklin, and Joe Spivey on fiddles and Dawn Sears on harmony vocals. Gill played all the acoustic and electric guitar fills and solos.
“This project has been a labor of love for me and Paul,” said Gill, a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame. “Paul and I both love the ‘Bakersfield’ sound that Buck and Merle represent. We are excited that Cracker Barrel Old Country Store® approached us to create this special Deluxe Edition of Bakersfield because it allowed us to go back and record some additional songs we think everyone will enjoy.”
“I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: this may be Vince’s greatest project,” Franklin declares. “What a showcase! I’ve heard him sing for 30 years, but he sings licks on this record I never heard before.”
“We are proud to offer the exclusive Bakersfield: Deluxe Editionalbum from Vince and Paul to our guests,” said Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Marketing Manager Julie Craig. “We hope our guests, as well as music lovers everywhere, will be excited that Vince and Paul could dip back into that well and add four additional songs to what is already a classic album.”
Full track listing for Bakersfield: Deluxe Edition:
1. “Foolin’ Around” Made Famous by Buck Owens
(Written by Harlan Howard and Buck Owens)
2. “Branded Man” Made Famous by Merle Haggard
(Written by Merle Haggard)
3. “Together Again” Made Famous by Buck Owens
(Written by Buck Owens)
4. “The Bottle Let Me Down” Made Famous by Merle Haggard
(Written by Merle Haggard)
5. “He Don’t Deserve You Anymore” Made Famous by Buck Owens
(Written by Arty Lange and Buck Owens)
6. “I Can’t Be Myself” Made Famous by Merle Haggard
(Written by Merle Haggard)
7. “Nobody’s Fool But Yours”
Made Famous by Buck Owens
(Written by Buck Owens)
8. “Holding Things Together” Made Famous by Merle Haggard
(Written by Bob Trotten and Merle Haggard)
9. “But I Do” Made Famous by Buck Owens
(Written by Tommy Collins)
10. “The Fightin’ Side of Me” Made Famous by Merle Haggard
(Written by Merle Haggard)
11. “Your Tender Loving Care”* Made Famous by Buck Owens
(Written by Buck Owens)
12. “Buckin’ Merle”* Instrumental
(Written by Vince Gill)
13. “I Threw Away the Rose”* Made Famous by Merle Haggard
(Written by Merle Haggard)
14. “High on a Hilltop”* Made Famous by Merle Haggard
(Written by Tommy Collins)
(*) Denotes exclusive tracks for the expanded album available through Cracker Barrel Old Country Store®.
One of the four additional tracks on Bakersfield: Deluxe Edition is the instrumental “Buckin’ Merle,” which Gill wrote as a tribute to Haggard and Owens and the “Bakersfield” sound.
The original version of Bakersfield was released by MCA Nashville on July 13, 2013 and debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard Top Country Albums Chart. National Public Radio (NPR) recently named it one of their Top Ten Albums of 2013.
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