AceShowbiz -

After hosting the country music reality series "Nashville Star" last year, this year Jewel Kilcher takes her involvement further. The singer-songwriter is set to be one of the judges on the show alongside John Rich of Big & Rich.

Jewel says that she's honored to work for the show. The "Foolish Games" singer also explicitly revealed her reason to take the job, claiming that at the beginning of her career she also had mentors to help and guide her. "As a young artist, I really benefited from having great mentors like Bob Dylan and Merle Haggard. They took me under their wings and encouraged me to stand up for things that, as an artist, are important," she said. Because of that she plans to share her experience by becoming one of the judges and helps the contestants of "Nashville Star." The show will be premiered on June 9 at NBC.

Jewel herself has just started her career in country music in 2007, after she was previously known as a pop singer. Her first country project was recording a duet single "No Good in Goodbye" with Jason Michael Carroll, which was featured on Jason's debut album "Waitin' in the Country".

Jewel has also finished her country album titled "Perfectly Clear", which will be released on June 3, 2008. Meanwhile, one of the singles on the album "Stronger Woman" has been released to country radio on January 17, 2008 and managed to reach #14 on the Billboard Hot Country Charts on its April 9 edition.