John Rich of Big & Rich will give one of seven celebrities a chance at a country music career in the new CMT series, Gone Country. The cast includes Bobby Brown (New Edition), Carnie Wilson (Wilson Phillips), Dee Snider (Twisted Sister), Diana DeGarmo (American Idol/), Julio Iglesias Jr., Maureen McCormick (The Brady Bunch) and Sisqo (”Thong Song”).
CMT reports the celebrities will live in a Nashville mansion together and will compose songs with Nashville songwriters. In each episode, the cast will compete against each other in challenges that will test them musically and physically to adapt to a country music lifestyle, both on and off the stage. At the end of two weeks, the artist who is most prepared to impress a country audience, as determined by Rich, will record and release a song. Production is currently underway in Nashville. The six-episode series will premiere in January 2008.

[via ArtistoMedia]