Kristin Chenoweth to Release Debut Country Album ‘Some Lessons Learned’ on September 13

She may be a Hollywood star now, but when she was a kid, Kristin Chenoweth was raised on the same roots as every other country bumpkin'. The Tony-winning Broadway actress will make her country music debut with a new album, 'Some Lessons Learned,' to be released on September 13.

"Look at my recording career and it's kind of funny. It's all so different!" Chenoweth says in  press release announcing the record, her fourth to be released on Sony Masterworks. "This album is more along the lines of what I grew up singing, like the music I sang in church in Oklahoma. When I was hired at 19 to sing at Opryland in Nashville, that's what I wanted to do. I never anticipated my career going in all these great directions -- which I'm grateful for! I'm finally getting to do what I want."

Chenoweth, who grew up in Broken Arrow, Okla., just outside of Tulsa, says that she admires the ladies of country like Dolly Parton, Patsy Cline and Reba McEntire -- and actually wrote one of the tracks in honor of Parton, in addition to covering her tune 'Change.'

The 40-something entertainer will make her country music premiere with 'I Want Somebody (Bitch About),' a sassy song set to premiere on May 31. The music video will follow on June 6, the same week that Chenoweth will take part in Nashville's CMA Fest and the 2011 CMT Music Awards. She'll also perform on the finale of CMT's 'Next Superstar.'

'Some Lessons Learned,' Chenoweth says, is "about what we learn and how we learn -- and what we do with it." What she's doing with "it" is spinning her celebrity name to make an impressive country-influenced new album, which features a duet with Randy Travis and songwriting tips from some of the industry's greatest, including Bob Ezrin, Hillary Scott and Dianne Warren, to name a few.

"I'm so glad that as an artist, I'm in a position to work with such incredibly talented people," Chenoweth reveals. "I've always wanted to make this album, especially in Nashville, where the musicians are amazing and everyone is so wonderful to work with.  I can't wait to go back!"