We are a Fog divided. The guys like their Waffle House as we roll down the highway going gig to gig. Well, actually, I do too, but if truth be told, I am happier luxuriating in a multi-course breakfast at Cracker Barrel. Eggs and thick sliced bacon, grits, and cinnamon apples, and BISCUITS, now we're talking! And I would also like to point out that Cracker Barrel has quietly become a force in the music biz, with their exclusive music program CD releases available in their nearly 600 locations. It is a robust music delivery system to an audience coming to eat and then browse awhile. The last time I was there, I was coveting their new Smokey Robinson CD Now And Then. And now comes word that Mandy Barnett has released her first holiday album, Winter Wonderland, through Cracker Barrel. Allow me to introduce you to her if you are unfamiliar. She is a crooner extraordinaire. Her voice is reminiscent of Patsy, in fact, she played her in the stage show "Always...Patsy Cline" at the Mother Church of Country Music, The Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. This is Mandy's fifth solo CD, and on that list is the last album recorded with legendary producer Owen Bradley, I've Got A Right To Cry from 1999.

We are talking legacy today, and what with this being Christmas Eve-Eve, we offer you something traditional, heartwarming, and pure. A production style emerged in Nashville back in the early '60s which included pop elements, backup singers and strings. It was called Countrypolitan. Mandy recalls that golden era on this album, with help from music veterans Harold Bradley, Lloyd Green, Louis Nunley, Gene Chrisman and Tony Migliore. Amazing to think that guitarist Harold Bradley and back-up singer Louis Nunley also played on the original versions of some of the songs on this collection. And a month before Owen passed away, he asked Mandy to do a show with him at St. Thomas hospital for his doctors and their patients. Owen played "This Time Of The Year" for her, and they performed it at the party. Here is Mandy Barnett with it for you now. Merry almost Christmas!

- Jessie Scott