COUNTRY CONNECTION: Simpson wants to go country

The Country Music Channel is trying to convince us that Jessica Simpson belongs, by insisting we see her at all times. ABC proclaims the coming of “Country’s Night to Rock” and then shows her performing on stage.

Hype is easy. Hype doesn’t really take effort, not with big-label country music. Big-label acts will always get exposure. And let’s be clear — we’re not dealing with a rough-and-tumble outlaw on the fringes here. We’re talking about Jessica Simpson, first sold to us as a teeny-bopper starlet, then as a sex icon, then as an air-headed reality star, then a pop star, and now as a divorced country singer.

She could’ve gotten hype doing just about anything. But now she’s getting hype by doing what every American dreams of — total reinvention.

And I’ll give her credit — she’s gone all-out. She may be 100 percent authentic about her insistence that she’s wanted to do a country album but her label wouldn’t let her; the playing up of her Texas roots, which hadn’t really been mentioned back in her pop years, makes one wonder whether she was being a faker then or a faker now.

Her pop roots, however, don’t really matter. Most people can’t name a Jessica Simpson song. They can name her videos, usually. (No, her cover of “These Boots Were Made For Walkin’” doesn’t count.

If that counts, Patrick Swayze counts, and that’s a slippery slope that I just don’t feel like going down today.) But at the end of the day, she was a non-factor. I barely remember her first pop hit being something that sampled John Mellencamp’s “Jack and Diane,” being furious about it for about 10 minutes, then forgetting it existed.

So if she wants to be a country star now, that’s her right. But showing up on all these events and headlining lots of CMT news isn’t going to make you a country star, no more than the San Diego Chicken showing up at a bunch of baseball games makes him qualified to be the Padres’ everyday center fielder. “Come On Over,” her lead single, has been climbing and hovering in the upper echelons of the chart, but fails to truly break through. My wager is that everyone’s waiting on Simpson. It’s not like she stands out in the crowd through anything other than name recognition. She’s another pretty lady with a top-30 single. There’s plenty of those on the charts, just as there are a bunch of faceless dudes in cowboy hats singing about being country men, country boys, good ol’ boys and good ol’ men. At the end of the day — nobody likes to admit this, but it’s true — the song still has to have redeeming quality, or we really don’t care what you do.

So what do you think? Have you heard “Come On Over” yet? Interested in hearing the full album? Do you care what Jessica Simpson does with her life? No matter what ends up happening, all the hype in the world won’t buy you an ounce of respect in country music. Either the song has something worth hearing, or you vanish. Which will Simpson do, in your estimation? Feel free to make your own predictions. I’d love to see what you have to say about the situation.

Paul Kent hosts Thunder After Dark, 7 p.m. to midnight weekdays and the Saturday Night Special, Saturdays 7 p.m. to midnight on Thunder 104.5 Everything Country and More. To send predictions or reach Paul Kent, e-mail info@staffordcountysun.com.