Jessica Simpson - the next Dolly Parton?

Jessica Simpson

“Come on Over”

Sony

Jessica Simpson has made some good decisions — marrying Nick Lachey , turning a last-resort MTV reality show like “Newlyweds” into a major moneymaker, having pretty hair — and some really bad decisions, like her cover of Nancy Sinatra’s “These Boots are Made for Walkin’,” dating John Mayer, dyeing said pretty hair brown and letting her creepy father speak to the press. In her many genuine attempts to find a niche in this big, bad music business (she’s tried her hand at gospel, bubblegum pop, too-sexy Britneypop and ’80s-era Madonna dance-pop, to little fanfare or avail), she’s stumbled in a variety of singers’ shoes. So does Jess fit into the cowboy boots she’s been donning lately in promotion of her new country album “Do You Know?” It’s a decision that toes the line-dance.

Now, there are several things about Jessica Simpson that make her the perfect candidate to record a country album. No.1, she’s from Texas. And like one of her idols, the legendary Dolly Parton (Jessica’s duet partner on the Dolly-written title track), she’s got abundant “blond” hair, a huge toothy grin, and a couple big assets underneath her T-shirt. Since Jess got the bug in her bubbly blond brain to make said country record, she’s been dressing the part, much as she did during that “Dukes of Hazzard” bonanza of 2005. Let’s talk cutoff William Rast jeans, turquoise concha belts and beat-up cowboy boots. Marketing ploy? Maybe, but “Do You Know” has its ups and downs, much like the story of Jessica’s career.

Because there’s something about Simpson that’s sweetly endearing no matter your personal opinion of the dizzy blonde, let’s start with the good. The album’s first single “Come on Over” (already the name of a huge country record-setter of an album by high priestess Shania Twain … way to ride on the coattails, Jess) has been getting steady airplay and is actually quite a decent offering considering the general public’s low expectations of Jessica and her musical quest. Country tune mainstays like steel guitars run amok and though Jessica starts out breathily cooing the flirty lyrics (she can’t wait for that boyfriend to get to her house! He can’t even stop for gas!) she just cannot resist her ever-present urge to over-sing, stretching her voice to the upper echelons of her range. The chorus of “Come on Over” is screechy as a barnyard cat; if someone would politely tell Jessica that such caterwauling is best left to someone with a little more substance behind their voice, like petite powerhouse Christina Aguilera , the song would have been elevated from “OK” to “solid.” Jessica has a quality voice — that’s undeniable — but she’s got to tone it down to make an impact. Rein that girl in!

“You’re My Sunday,” which just so happens to be an ode to Jess’s current paramour, Dallas Cowboys football player Tony Romo , is passably decent but not groundbreaking, and “Man Enough” is the one song on the album where Jessica uses that big voice for good and not for eardrum-splitting evil. She’s obviously trying to follow in Shania Twain’s well-heeled footsteps by attempting to fuse her pop sensibilities with her newfound love of honky-tonk and fiddles; sometimes it works, like with “Come on Over,” and sometimes it doesn’t.

With any country album, an artist risks the hokey, and Jessica has definitely stuck her boot into that territory with “Sippin’ on History” and the worst track on the album, “Remember That.” Country singers love to include a song or two with some deep, hard-hitting message and “Remember That” addresses domestic violence with laughable lyrics. “Pray Out Loud” relies on religion, nothing uncommon on country radio.

But really, most of “Do You Know” is just mediocre, cut-rate country. Nothing in the album sticks out as particularly original; close your eyes and it could be Carrie Underwood or Miranda Lambert, or even old-timer Faith Hill crooning over the radio. But sometimes, when you’re driving down a dirt road in your beat-up Ford pickup, mediocre country music is just fine. So, good decision or bad decision? Let’s go with good.