Southern Living Country Music's Greatest Eats: Showstopping Recipes & Riffs from Country's Biggest Stars

by Editors of Southern Living Magazine, with Tanner Latham

Publisher: Oxmoor House

Publication Date: May 2014

Buy on Amazon

Featured Recipe: Grilled Chicken and Fruit Summer Salad

For the first time ever, Southern Living and CMT are partnering to celebrate two of America’s favorite things—delicious home-cooked food and country music—in Southern Living Country Music’s Greatest Eats: Showstopping Recipes & Riffs from Country’s Biggest Stars. Much more than a cookbook, Country Music’s Greatest Eats is a backstage pass to the lives—and kitchens—of more than 30 of country music’s biggest and brightest stars, including legends like Alan Jackson, Hank Williams, Jr., and Wynonna as well as some of today’s hottest stars like Florida Georgia Line, Gloriana, Miranda Lambert, and The Zac Brown Band.

Music fans and Southern-food lovers get a seat at the table with these incredible artists as they share recipes they grew up with, memorable meals they enjoyed on the road, and the dishes they love to come home to. Southern Living Country Music’s Greatest Eats cookbook includes more than 75 of the artists’ favorite recipes (each passing the rigorous demands of the Southern Living Test Kitchen); extensive interviews revealing the stories behind the recipes; and behind-the-scenes photos of the featured stars in their homes, in the kitchen, and on tour.

Cooks&Books&Recipes {Dee}, on Southern Living Country Music Greatest Eats: Showstopping Recipes & Riffs from Country’s Biggest Stars

I can’t decide what I’m enjoying most about this cookbook: the musician contributors, the recipes, or the photos.

I grew up on country music. Actually, in those days it was called Country & Western, which was later shortened to C&W; somewhere along the line the “&W” was dropped, with only “country” music surviving. Thank goodness it did! The contributors of the recipes in this cookbook travel across the time span, ranging from some of the more traditional heavy-hitters such as the Oak Ridge Boys (Orange Dreamsicle Cake), Hank Williams, Jr. (Cajun Rice Casserole), Wynonna Judd (Grace’s Favorite Broccoli-Rice Casserole), Alan Jackson (Alan’s Favorite Chicken Salad), and my personal favorite Randy Travis (Quick-and-Easy Hot-Water Cornbread) to today’s stars such as the Eli Young Band (Aunt Donna’s Chicken and Noodles), Sarah Darling (Grandma Alice’s Pumpkin Bars), Cody Alan (Jalapeño Cheese Cornbread), the Zac Brown Band (Louisiana Blue Crab Stuffed Catfish Fillets), Laura Bell Bundy (Gluten-Free Spaghetti Pomodoro), and so many more! The musicians are listed alphabetically at the beginning of the book, for easy reference.

As evidenced from some of these titles, the recipes are just as varied as the musicians. They run the gamut from easy casseroles and main dishes (John Murphy’s Corn Casserole, from Allison DeMarcus; Amy’s Pot Roast, from Amy Grant; Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole, from Trace Adkins) to the more gourmet (Elk Shepherd’s Pie, from Craig Morgan; Coffee-Cured Filet Mignon, from Chris Young; Minted Pea Soup, from Katie Cook). But I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the one dessert recipe that was a staple in my house when I was growing up in Louisiana: Hello Dollies, recipe here from Alecia Davis. I’m warning you, these are so easy to make and SO ridiculously addictive…

Tying all of these recipes and musicians together are the photos and the stories, which are what make the book more than just a cookbook. As a reader, you can step into the musicians’ everyday lives for just a bit, sit at their kitchen tables, and enjoy the talk of food, family, and “country” music — or C&W, or Country & Western, or whatever it’s called today or tomorrow.

The Cookbook Basics:

Paperback (10.1 x 8.3 inches)

272 pages

75+ recipes; color photos

About the author: Tanner Latham spent 10 years as a travel editor at Southern Living magazine, covering the South and telling the region’s stories through its food, destinations, and characters. Currently Tanner hosts the nationally-distributed storytelling podcast Authentic South, which explores Southern culture through food, music, art, the land and the characters who define the region.

Cookbook Giveaway:

Thanks to publisher Oxmoor House and Southern Living, we’re giving away a copy of Southern Living Country Music’s Greatest Eats to one lucky Cooks&Books&Recipes reader. Enter below.

Giveaway Notes:

There are six ways to enter the giveaway, but it’s not necessary to do all six entries. Choose whichever one(s) you like, and you’ll be entered in the giveaway. The winner, to be randomly selected and notified by e-mail, must claim the cookbook within 10 days. Giveaway ends on Sunday, July 27.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: Cooks&Books&Recipes receives books for possible review, though we make no promise that all books received will be featured. We highlight only those cookbooks that we feel will interest our readers. For this giveaway, the publisher is providing one copy of the book. We received no monetary compensation for our review or giveaway.

Southern Living Country Music Greatest Eats