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By CURTIS ROSS

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 19, 2008

"Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel," according to Samuel Johnson. Country music, then, must be the last refuge of a fading pop star.

Yes, that's mid-'90s pop chart-topper Jewel getting a new lease on life with "Perfectly Clear," her first album marketed specifically to the country audience.

She's getting a big down-home welcome: "Perfectly Clear" entered Billboard's Top Country Albums charts at No. 1 this week.

Hot on the heels of "Perfectly Clear" comes the news that Jessica Simpson's next single also will be aimed at the country market.

Well, she is from Texas. And she dated a Dallas Cowboy. And, um ...

That's the thing. Some performers seem to think country music is so easy to make, and its audiences so accepting (or gullible), that reviving their career is just a flight to Nashville away.

Take Bret Michaels. Poison's botoxed bimboy tried to jump-start a solo career in 2006 with "Freedom of Sound," an ersatz country album with such cleverly titled songs as "Rock'n My Country." (Get it? Get it? Oh. You got it.)

Kid Rock has made more than a few overtures to the country crowd, mostly by attaching himself to Hank Williams Jr.'s boot heels.

Of course, plenty of rock 'n' rollers' have made forays into country that hold up well. The Byrds, The Flying Burrito Brothers, The Grateful Dead, Michael Nesmith, Elvis Costello and others have made music that shows a real love and understanding of country.

Maybe the most successful country crossover was Jerry Lee Lewis. He scored a batch of country hits - arguably of as high a quality as his pioneering rock 'n' roll singles - after the rock audience abandoned him. Too evil for rock but OK for country? There's a switch.

Country fans, to paraphrase Harry Truman, presumably thought, "He may be a teen-marrying, pill-popping, blasphemous drunk, but he's OUR teen-marrying, pill-popping, blasphemous drunk." Family is family, after all.

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