Pasadena, Calif. -- A series reminiscing about each year in country music and a special featuring songs of the year leveraging off a compact disc compiled by restaurant chain Cracker Barrel are among the programs to debut soon on Great American Country.
The Year will premiere Jan. 24, looking at a year that was pre e-mail and at a time when a postage stamp cost 25 cents: 1989. The series will be hosted by Mark Wills and will blend "historical fact and whimsy," according to the network.
The music special represents the first partnership with the restaurant chain. Cracker Barrel Songs of the Year will be co-hosted by country-music singer Trace Adkins and James Denton, star of DesperateHousewives. The show was filmed in November at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville, Tenn.
Performers include Adkins, Merle Haggard, Jo Dee Messina, Ronnie Milsap, Hank Williams Jr. and Trisha Yearwood, among others. The performers cover such country songs as “Dang Me,” “Are the Good Times Really Over for Good” and “Strawberry Wine.”
On sibling Scripps network Home & Garden Television, the channel will debut six new series and one special early this year.
Leader of the Pack will premiere March 5 at 9:30 p.m., following 16 dogs as they vie for a home with one family.
Other shows planned:
• Color Splash, where experts redesign rooms focusing on paint treatments, which will hit the channel March 18;
• Get Out Way Out, where professionals will design "extreme" backyard landscaping. It will debut in March;
• Sleep on It, debuting March 6, will allow viewers to see what it's like to "test-drive" a house;
• Bought & Sold profiles a cast of real estate brokers as they try to move properties. It debuts April 1;
• Secrets That Sell will begin June 24 and offer consumers tips and selling property; and
• Special HGTV Dream Home Giveaway, the latest edition of the network's dream-home giveaway, which will allow viewers to compete for a resort home in Winter Park, Colo. It will be telecast March 18.
