Jewel To Host 'Nashville Star'

Jewel will be the host of "Nashville Star" talent show when it returns for a fifth season on Jan. 11, 2007, USA Network announced Wednesday. Season four co-host Cowboy Troy will co-host the show with the Grammy-nominated singer.

Jewel follows country star Wynona Judd, who co-hosted the show's fourth season of the show.

"I grew up on a ranch in Alaska, and my favorite memories are of sitting around a campfire with my father and listening to the songs he wrote and sang. It was pure country music, and it has made me a sincere fan of country music ever since," Jewel said in a statement.

Born in Utah and raised in the rugged wilderness of Alaska, a determined Jewel set out while still a teenager to make it in the music business. After living out of her van and traveling the country, Jewel built a career as a singer, songwriter, poet, actress and painter. To date, she has sold more than 27 million albums worldwide and been nominated for a Grammy three times.

Billed as the world's only 6-foot-5 black rapping cowboy, Cowboy Troy's breakthrough came with a multilingual breakdown in the middle of "Rollin' (The Ballad of Big & Rich)", the opening track to the platinum-selling duo's 2004 release "Horse of A Different Color." His solo release, "Loco Motive" debuted at No. 2 on Billboard's Top Country Albums chart and at No. 15 on Billboard's Hot 200 chart.

The national casting tour for "Nashville Star" began on Aug. 31 in Atlanta and continued to 12 other cities: Los Angeles, Chicago, Las Vegas, New York, Dallas, Kansas City, Indianapolis, Oklahoma City, Tampa Bay, Albuquerque, Charlotte and of course, Nashville.

Updated information on auditions including cities, locations and times, song lists, applications, as well as how to audition if a contestant can't make an open call, can be found on the "Nashville Star" Web site.

The winner of the contest will receive a major music recording contract with a top-level record label.

By Judy Faber