A parade of hot and talented cowgirls have recently stormed the US country music scene, already known for producing demure beauties like Shania Twain, Faith Hill and LeAnn Rimes.
But Jessica Simpson, Jewel, Taylor Swift, Kellie Pickler and Julianne Hough are making the Nashville, Tennessee circuit younger, blonder and sexier.
Three of them - Simpson, Hough and Swift - are even among the women featured on Maxim magazine's Hot 100 list for 2008.
It's a matter of time before these girls start vying for the crown of reigning country princess and American Idol 4 champ Underwood.
And who should she be afraid of the most?
Probably pop star-actress Simpson - she of the MTV reality series Newlyweds, Daisy Dukes, celebrity romances and ditzy one-liners.
And not just because she's currently dating Underwood's ex-boyfriend, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo.
Simpson is expected to release her first country album in September, which will feature her dressed in a cowboy hat, demin cut-offs and boots for the cover.
One of her biggest idols, country queen Dolly Parton, reportedly even wrote and sang on one of the tracks.
Simpson's first single, Come On Over, has been receiving positive reviews and debuted at a historic No 41 on Billboard's country chart, the highest for a country music newcomer.
The 28-year-old, who worked the recent CMA Music Festival in Nashville to create a bond with country fans, told The Daily News Journal: 'A lot of people have listened to Come On Over and told me, 'I really wanted to hate it, but I like it'.
'Maybe they thought that I was just trying to stomp on their ground for a little bit and see what I could do, and then just go back and make another pop record.
FOCUSED ON COUNTRY
'But I'm planning on making country for the rest of my life, and I don't want to go back to that other world.'
Having grown up in Texas listening to country music, Simpson speaks of the cross-over as a full-circle moment for her.
Her father/manager Joe Simpson says this is the happiest and most confident he's ever seen his daughter as she always felt ill at ease doing pop.
She had tried writing in Nashville, but her label rejected the resulting material as 'too country'. Now, she feels like she's a brand-new artiste making her first album and re-starting her career.
'For the first time in my life, I take a lot of pride in my talent and in the record I was able to put together,' said Simpson.
Also switching gears and going back to her roots is folksy singer-songwriter Jewel, who recently released her first country album Perfectly Clear.
The 34-year-old also signed a multi-album deal with newly-launched Nashville music label, the Valory Music Company, because her previous label Atlantic Records was always afraid of stepping into the genre even though she's been writing country songs her whole life.
She told Jam! Showbiz: 'I don't think country is something you can fake. I don't think someone can wake up one day and say, 'I'm going to go country,' without it becoming transparent. I had this record planned in my head for a really long time...
'In the past, I've done things that are unconventional and against the grain, but country music is where I feel most comfortable. I have a lot in common with it.'
Taylor Swift
After all, she was raised on a ranch in Alaska, describes her father as a 'poetic cowboy', her longtime boyfriend is former rodeo champion Ty Murray and she's currently a judge on reality TV series Nashville Star, the country music version of American Idol (she hosted its first season).
Then there's Swift, triple-platinum teen sensation and one of America's youngest and fastest-rising country stars.
The 19-year-old's self-titled debut album is still on the charts since its 2006 release and she has already won an armful of prestigious awards.
A Rolling Stone magazine cover even placed her alongside such music icons as Madonna, Bruce Springsteen and Bono.
SUCCESSFUL DEBUT
At the age of 17, Swift became the youngest person to single-handedly write and sing a No 1 country single (Our Song), and is the first female solo artiste in country music history to write or co-write every song on a platinum-selling debut CD.
She is also teaming up with close pal Pickler, 22, for a new song, Best Days Of Your Life, on the American Idol 5 finalist's sophomore album.
Pickler's debut album Small Town Girl shifted more than 79,000 copies during its first week of release in 2006, making her the best-selling new country solo artiste of 2006.
In fact, Pickler and Swift are set to join Hough, another popular country sweetheart, in co-hosting the CMA Music Festival: Country's Night To Rock, a star-studded concert special set to air in September.
Hough, 20, is best known for being the stunning professional ballroom dancer who won two back-to-back seasons of the hit US reality dance series Dancing With The Stars with her partners, race-car driver Helio Castroneves and speed skater Apolo Anton Ohno.
She then signed a country record deal, and released her debut single That Song In My Head.
Her self-titled debut album proceeded to debut at
No 1 on the Billboard country album chart and No 3 on the Billboard Hot 200 album chart.
This week, she joins Paisley and Jewel on their summer tour.
But Hough - who has been playing bongos and singing in her family's country band by the time she was four - insists she was always keen on pursuing a music career.
She told the Palm Beach Post: 'People may be a little bit skeptical about this dancer girl going over to singing. But what they don't know is I've been singing longer than I've been dancing. And singing, that's where my heart is.'
This article was first published in The New Paper on Jun 12, 2008.
