I'm obsessed with Cracker Barrel. Not just the death-defying Farmer's Breakfast (sausage patties, please, and hashbrown casserole instead of those horrific fried apples) or that confounding peg game that makes me feel like a dumbass. Or even the fact that my daughters turn into jelly-hurling demons whenever we eat there. I'm all about the Barrel's store, too, stuffed as it is with old-timey candy, road games that 21st century kids scoff at and great gobs of God-fearing, straight-down-the-middle music: Dolly Parton, Alabama, Kenny Rogers, hymns galore. I'm on the Barrel's media contact list, and they just sent me an Alan Jackson hits disc plus a full catalogue of Barrel-sponsored Alan Jackson regalia (cowboy hats, shirts, mugs, skillets, etc.). It's a sweet marketing deal for the country singer -- the man knows his audience for sure. Plus it got me thinking: Maybe Cracker Barrel is the Last American Music Store, affordable tunes for mobility on Route 66, down-home hits as a source of freedom and expansion and that trip to see the grandkids. I dunno. There might be something there. Or maybe I just sprinkled too much peyote on my grits.

In the meantime, let's do a little playlisting, a little somethin' for breakfast on this fine Tuesday. All things Cracker Barrel: the food, the clientele, those rocking chairs. And don't forget the 37 biscuits they provide with every meal. 

Breakfast in America -- Supertramp
Old Man -- Neil Young
Dancing Across the USA -- Lindsey Buckingham
Peg -- Steely Dan
Keep on the Sunny Side -- Doc Watson
The Rocking Chair -- Beautiful South
Burnt Biscuits -- Booker T. and the MGs
Ham N Eggs -- A Tribe Called Quest
Heart Attack -- Olivia Newton-John
Route 66 -- Chuck Berry
Drivin' on 9 -- the Breeders
Roll Out the Barrel -- Bobby Vinton
Sweet Thistle Pie -- Cracker