Rod Stewart’s Country Dreams Denied

Rod Stewart is rebelling against his record label, after his bosses refused to sign off on the different direction he's proposing for a new album. J Records has reportedly denied the British rock icon's idea of recording a CD of country classics.

"Everybody there [at J Records] is against that, which makes me want to do it even more," Stewart tells Ireland On-line. "Apparently, the idea didn't test well, whatever that means."

Whatever those tests may be, they're not stopping Rod the Mod. He's set to release the final CD in his 'Great American Songbook' series later this year, and he hints that he's not backing down on his desire to fill it with country covers. Stewart says he wants to be able to say he has tried everything in his music career.

"I want to do records for my own peace of mind." he says. "So when I do kick the bucket, I can say, 'I did that.'"

Stewart goes on to explain that J Records CEO Clive Davis would rather him take a more festive direction, making the last album in the 'Songbook' series a collection of Christmas songs. But Stewart says he's "not into that so much."