Nashville is about to have some competition from another Country Music tourist spot. Country Crossing will open Dec. 1 in Dothan, Ala.
George Jones, Darryl Worley, Lorrie Morgan, John Anderson and Tracy Lawrence are among the Country artists who will open restaurants at the new development.
As it grows, the new site will eventually be home to the 10,000-seat Mandolin Grove Ampitheater, Bluegrass Hollow RV Park, a bowling center, recording studio, hotels and a hall for visitor events. Country Crossing will also be home to the George Jones Possum Holler Bed & Breakfast as well as a George Jones Dinner Theater and Restaurant.
"I've been in the music business all my life and I'm slowing down on the road, so this gives me something to do in my spare time," Jones recently told The Boot.com. "We just fell in love with the group of people down here ... we're pretty sure it's going to turn out to be one of the biggest things to happen in this part of the country."
Jones and Lorrie Morgan recently led a group of Nashville reporters down to Dothan to visit the new development and see the growth for themselves. A select group were able to tour the new home of Jones and his wife Nancy in the nearby town of Enterprise, Ala.
"It's just been finished the last three or four months, so it's all still new to us," he said of their Alabama residence. "We put Nancy's touch to it, and we're just now getting it together. We'll be coming down from Nashville quite often the rest of the year."
The Country Music Hall of Famer’s house is part of the Legend's subdivision, which was developed by Ronnie Gilley, who is responsible for the growth of Country Crossing.
"We're not away from Country Music or his friends," said Nancy, who has been married to the Possum for 27 years. "You've got Lorrie Morgan here. You've got Darryl Worley. You've got Tracy Lawrence."
During the press trip, visitors from Nashville and local reporters were served lunch at the Dothan Chamber of Commerce by Lorrie Morgan, who treated them to some of her famous hot chicken in three different flavors.
"When I met Ronnie is when we came up with doing the hot chicken, and it's been a dream in the making," said Morgan, who previously had a hot chicken restaurant just outside Nashville. Morgan looks forward to Country Crossing visitors getting a taste of her family recipe. "My father developed this recipe," she said, referring to her late father, Grand Ole Opry star George Morgan. "It's an old family recipe and through the years it's kind of evolved into a little different taste than what it was originally, but it's absolutely wonderful."
Other than the good food and great Country Music, Morgan said there’s another reason tourists should flock to Country Crossing: "Alabama has the best looking men I've ever seen!"
