A Tennessee restaurant gave legendary country singer George Jones a proper sendoff this week with lots and lots of sausage.
Jones, who has been called the "greatest voice in country music," died April 26 at age 81 after a successful career that spanned five decades and produced hits like "He Stopped Loving Her Today" and "I Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool."
But Jones wasn’t just a country music superstar. He was also a breakfast connoisseur, and the founder of George Jones Country Sausage, his own sausage company that was sold locally through Tennessee restaurants.
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To honor the late singer's memory this week, Brooke Shaw's Old Country Store in Jackson, Tenn., whipped up more than 1,000 sausage balls,
Jones' own creation and favorite breakfast snack, including a batch for his widow Nancy.
The recipe calls for Jones' sausage, Bisquick pancake mix, cheese, and milk, with directions to blend the ingredients, mold the mixture into balls, and bake together for 10 minutes.
"Breakfast has always been my favorite meal of the day," Jones once said. "My wife, Nancy, sets the table and it's my job to fry up the sausage and make sure it's just right."
Jones partnered with Williams Sausage Co. 45 years ago to create and market his own line of the breakfast meat.
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"I don't lend my name to just anythin'," Jones said in a statement on the company's website. "Williams Sausage is some of the best I've ever had and I like the fact that they are an old family business that hasn't changed hands much. Kind of like me, I've been a country singer since the day I started off in the business and I'll be singin' country 'til the day I die."
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