Jewel Says Yes to Country Album

Three-time Grammy nominee Jewel reports she's gearing up to record her first country CD -- but it's not a matter of simply capitalizing on her current exposure as the co-host of the USA Network's "Nashville Star" talent show this season.  "I've been writing a country record since I was 16," says the multi-platinum singer/songwriter who's sold over 27 million albums worldwide.

Jewel Says Yes to Country Album

"I'm a free agent now, so I'm going to start to make some records I've been wanting to do for a while." She adds she already has "some 20 to 30 songs together," and the new album will "run the gamut like any of my records. Some of it will be socially conscious, some of it totally personal."

Meanwhile, Jewel says she's having a blast co-hosting "Nashville Star" with Cowboy Troy. "They came to me about being a permanent judge, but the job allows you only about 15 seconds to help the contestants," she says. "I decided to host because I wanted to do the mentoring thing. I have two-hour sessions with each of them at several different times, and I can really help them. It's been fun."

However, she's put her acting career on hold. "I was really lucky in my early twenties to do an Ang Lee film," says the songstress, who made her acting debut in Lee's Civil War drama "Ride with the Devil" opposite Skeet Ulrich and Tobey Maguire and most recently played a lawyer in the Rob Lowe/NBC series, "The Lyon's Den." "I really loved acting, but when I realized what it would take to have a full second career, I really backed off of it. If something comes up, I do it, but I don't work hard at it."

She adds, "Creatively I find acting really fulfilling, and I'd love to do more, but I see how so many people in that position (juggling two careers) become estranged from their family and loved ones. They have great careers but suffering personal lives. I'm not somebody to put my life on hold. I really enjoy my life."

FROM THE INSIDE LOOKING OUT: "She's so fluid, easy and natural, it was just un-stressful acting. She's pretty and accessible. She looks just like her mother." So says Barry Bostwick, describing Meryl Streep's 23-year-old daughter, Mamie Gummer. Barry plays the father of Mamie's character in the June release big-screen adaptation of Susan Minot's "Evening" best-seller -- with Meryl playing the older version of the character. Bostwick also notes that "Coming from a pretty high-powered family, she could be very jaded, but she doesn't seem to be, which is lovely."

Bostwick's been getting lots of variety into his professional life recently. He also has the "Nancy Drew" movie with Emma Roberts coming out this summer. And Saturday (2/3), the Hallmark Channel premieres his romantic comedy with Donna Mills, "Love is a Four-Letter Word."

With baby boomers hitting their sixties, the subject of "retirement divorce" is bound to get hotter -- and that topicality is one of the things that attracted Bostwick to the telepic, in which he and Mills play a couple who succumb to the aggravations of unaccustomed constant companionship. Even though Bostwick and his wife have a whole different lifestyle with their 10- and 11-year-old children at home, he relates to the situation through his parents' experience.

After his father retired, "I'd find him going downtown to have breakfast at some coffee shop, saying, 'I can't take it anymore.' He loved my mother with all his heart, but neither of them anticipated what it would be like to be in each other's faces 24/7. They got through it, thank God. It was funny to observe them, almost like teenagers with their little spats."

THE VIDEOLAND VIEW: Star of "The Hills," Heidi Montag, tells us she's ready for a respite from her MTV reality show, which she films with roommate Lauren Conrad of "Laguna Beach." Though Lauren was meant to be the main appeal, the much bubblier Heidi has quickly won over the audience and apparently the cameramen. "We're looking forward to a little bit of a break coming up. I'll definitely be relieved from it. I'm a little tired," admits Heidi, whose story has been coming to the forefront during season two. Her life has certainly been anything but normal as of late. "You have fans coming up to you. Sometimes it's crazy, but we just appreciate anyone who really enjoys the show."

However, Heidi says she's certainly not looking for a permanent break from the show, considering she hopes to parlay her newfound fame into, GASP, an acting career! Yes, not too shocking to hear from a reality star. "I think I want to get into acting and also music after that. Really I just want to see what opportunities come to me. I want to stay in this industry for sure."

CASTING CORNER: With "Rambo IV: Pearl of the Cobra" slated for a late February production start in Thailand, Sylvester Stallone is casting subsidiary roles in the picture, in which his sexagenarian soldier of fortune will be found working in the jungle as a snake hunter -- hey, why not -- until summoned into service by, of all people, a group of pacifist Christian missionaries to help protect them from pirates.

"Grey's Anatomy" has been casting about for the actor who'll play Jim, a hospital worker in his early to mid-twenties, who could become a recurring character.

(With reports by Stephanie DuBois and Emily Feimster)