First we heard Jessica Simpson will be pursuing a career in country music and now Jewel has decided to go the same route. She just signed a multi-album deal with a record label based out of Nashville. In an interview with Billboard she talks about her reasons and says she's always been a little bit country.

"I've been wanting to do this record my whole career," she tells Billboard.com, "but my label was always scared of country music. I've always had country songs on my records. If I had been discovered now, living in my car in San Diego, I think I would have been signed as a country act. As a singer/songwriter and as a storyteller, I'm old fashioned. I like a beginning middle and end to my songs. That's pretty much just country radio now.""

Jewel currently lives in Texas but has spent a lot of time in Nashville recently, hosting the reality show Nashville Star and making an appearance on country newcomer, Jason Michael Carroll's album. She will also be a presenter at the CMA awards, coming up on November 7th.
What do you think, country fans? Is Jewel the real deal?
ONTD