JASON MICHAEL CARROLL'S NUMBERS ADDED TO
CRACKER BARREL’S LIST

Exclusive All-Country Album Due in July with 11 New Songs and One Previous Hit

LEBANON, Tenn. – (March 28, 2011) – Jason Michael Carroll got his start singing in public while he worked as a server at the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store® location in Henderson, N.C. So it’s downright fitting that the company has chosen Numbers, his first studio album since 2009, to be the newest addition to its exclusive music program when the CD is released this summer.  Cracker Barrel and Carroll are partnering with the Quarterback Records radio team, GrassRoots, and country radio nationwide to debut the album’s title song “Numbers” as a single today.

“’Numbers’is a song that got my attention the first time I heard it,” said Carroll.  “It was written by Patrick Davis and Rodney Clausen and it’s about the way certain numbers, like dates and times, can represent some of life’s most significant moments.  Moments like your first date, meeting the love of your life and the day your child is born.  Those dates and times have real meaning in our lives.  I think everyone can identify with that concept.”

“The date that Jason Michael Carroll started working for Cracker Barrel is one of those significant numbers,” said Chris Ciavarra, Senior Vice President of Marketing for Cracker Barrel.  “We had no idea when he became one of our new-hire Rising Stars that his music career was about to make him a star in the music industry, too. Adding his album to our music program is like welcoming family back home.”

The single “Numbers” will be available on iTunes® April 5. The CD Numbers will be available exclusively at all Cracker Barrel locations July 25, with 12 songs on it, including “Numbers”and “Alyssa Lies” from Jason Michael Carroll’s 2007 album Waitin’ in the Country. “Alyssa Lies” topped at #5 on the Billboard Country Chart and was Carroll’s debut single and the runaway hit that put him on the map.

Jason Michael Carroll’s Numbers will be the latest in Cracker Barrel’s exclusive music program, which features numerous projects.  In March of this year, Cracker Barrel released Kenny Rogers’ The Love of God which debuted at #8 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart, #2 on the Top Christian Albums chart and at #31 on the overall Billboard 200.  In January 2011, Cracker Barrel released The Grascals & Friends - Country Classics With A Bluegrass Spin which debuted at #1 on Billboard magazine’s Bluegrass Albums chart and at #26 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart. In November of 2010, Cracker Barrel released Smokey Robinson’s Now & Then which debuted at #19 on Billboard magazine’s R&B chart and was nominated for an NAACP Image Award. September saw the release of the self-titled Rodney Atkins, which includes four #1 hits, and also the release of Mandy Barnett’s Winter Wonderland, which offers up all the authentic sounds of holiday traditions. In July, the company released Craig Morgan’s That’s Why-Collector’s Edition, and in May the release of Wynonna’s Love Heals debuted at #7 on the Billboard Magazine Top Country Albums chart. February’s release of Dailey & Vincent Sing the Statler Brothers debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Top Bluegrass Albums chart, where it spent nine weeks in the top position and 18 weeks overall in one of the three top positions. One of its songs was nominated for a Grammy award® Over the last few years, Cracker Barrel has released exclusive CDs with Alan Jackson, the Zac Brown Band, George Jones, Montgomery Gentry, Dolly Parton, Bill Gaither, Ricky Skaggs, Aaron Tippin, Alison Krauss & Union Station, Josh Turner, Amy Grant, Kenny Rogers, Sara Evans, and Charlie Daniels.

Tracks on Numbers:
1.     Meet me in the Barn
2.     Numbers
3.     Can I get an Amen
4.     Hell or Hallelujah
5.     Last Word
6.     Stray
7.     Don't know Why
8.     Ray of Hope
9.     Let Me
10.  This is for the Lonely
11.  My Favorite
12.  Alyssa Lies (from the album Waitin’ in the Country, Arista Records, 2007)

About Cracker Barrel
Cracker Barrel Old Country Store provides a friendly home-away-from-home in its old country stores and restaurants.  Guests are cared for like family while relaxing and enjoying real home-style food and shopping that’s surprisingly unique, genuinely fun and reminiscent of America’s country heritage…all at a fair price. The restaurant serves up delicious, home-style country food such as meatloaf and homemade chicken n’ dumplins as well as its signature biscuits using an old family recipe. The authentic old country retail store is fun to shop and offers unique gifts and self-indulgences.

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc. (Nasdaq: CBRL) was established in 1969 in Lebanon, Tenn. and operates 600 company-owned locations in 42 states.  Every Cracker Barrel unit is open seven days a week with hours Sunday through Thursday, 6 a.m. – 10 p.m., and Friday and Saturday, 6 a.m. - 11 p.m.  For more information, visit crackerbarrel.com.

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