Tracy Byrd [ tickets ] is truly a renaissance man, whipping out award-worthy country music on a regular basis--most recently on the album "The Truth About Men"--while venturing in some unlikely directions.

While Byrd didn't pickup any trophies this year, the Beaumont, TX, native was nominated for the Academy of Country Music's Vocal Event of the Year award for his latest album's title track, a collaboration with Andy Griggs, Blake Shelton and Montgomery Gentry. Last year, the same track was up for a CMA Award.

His music aside, he can put together a mean meal. To help out those who are culinary challenged, Byrd has penned a cookbook, "Eat Like a Byrd," and launched a line of spices, rubs and marinades called Tracy Byrd's Tiny Town Products. Both are available at Wal-Mart and select Kroger stores. The father of three is donating five cents from every bottle sold to the Children's Miracle Network.

The "Ten Rounds with Jose Cuervo" singer recently talked with liveDaily about his album, his line of products and playing for the Fort Hood, TX-based soldiers who helped capture Saddam Hussein.

From your music to your line of food, you're one busy guy. You must be the king of multi-tasking.

Tell me about it. [Laughs]. It seems like I've been that busy for 12 years, you know? There's always things going on. I always enjoyed branching out into different directions. Of course, these cookbooks, marinades and spices are the latest branch-outs. Things are going great. There's a lot of groundwork to lay to get it going and get it into Wal-Marts and Krogers, but it's paying off.

How did you come up with the idea to branch out into the food industry? Are you a great cook?

Well, I just came up with the idea for the cookbook. I've always loved to cook. I had a lot of great recipes that I wanted to share. I had this idea of a book that was just more about gettin' back home and the family sittin' down to dinner, instead of going out to eat every night.

So, I wanted to do it for about three years, but we didn't find a publisher who wanted to do it. Finally, my friend--he's kind of a partner with me in it--he found a publisher. [At] about the time we found that publisher and started doing the book again, we got approached--out of the blue, really--by a company out of Chicago that offered me this opportunity to do my own line of spices and marinades. That's where it all started.

At first I was a little apprehensive. It appeared out of nowhere. Once I researched the guys, it's a great company. They're a brand-building company. They'd done a lot of work with a lot of people that I've heard of. We ended up doing this line of spices and marinades. I told them up front that I didn't want to throw some novelty thing together. If we're going to do this, we're going to do this right. So, we got a company out of Wisconsin that actually does our blending and the mixing of our spices, and it took us about six batches before I finally said OK.

The first batch wasn't quite up to par. It progressively got better. They'd fix them up, I'd tell them what kind of things I wanted to do. They'd send them down to me in Texas. I'd cook with them and try 'em out. Boy, once we got there, though, it's really, really great stuff. It's easy too. That was the main thing behind the cookbook and the spices and the marinades, the marinades especially: just make it simple.

You're playing a few shows with Buddy Jewell, a winner of the "Country Star" talent competition. An acquaintance told me the other day that he didn't think that reality TV shows breed long-term talent. What do you think?

I think they may miss every now and then. I think Clay Aiken's got the talent and is just different enough to have a long career. As for Buddy, I wouldn't even venture to say how many songs that I've cut through the years that he sang the demo on. There was a time when you'd hear his voice on every third demo you'd listen to. He's been in Nashville for over a decade trying to make it. All of us other artists who were listening to demo tapes all the time would say, "God dang, why doesn't that guy have a deal?" I remember saying it every time I'd hear him. He's a great singer. So, he was well known among all the artists long before the public knew who he was. For some reason or another, nobody signed him.

His last chance was "Nashville Star." I think the right guy won. He's not only good and has a chance for a long career. He's also very deserving of it. He's paid his dues. He wasn't a Johnny-Come-Lately. I was working for 10 years trying to make it.

I understand you're writing new material.

Yeah, I've been working a lot here lately. We've just been touring mostly on the weekends, and going to Nashville every week [to record]. We're starting to get together some good songs. We'll be heading back to the studio the first week of June. I'm going to go in and track about six sides. I'll go back in later on in the year to finish things up.

As for your latest album, "The Truth About Men," did you record it any differently than your previous albums?

The only thing I did was [on] one track that ended up on the record, I went out to L.A. and cut three sides in Hollywood and used all L.A. pickers. That's the only difference. The one song out of that session, the Rodney Crowell song "Makin' Memories of Us," ended up on the album. Nine of the tracks were done in Nashville that ended up on the record, and just one was done in L.A. I only did one [L.A.] session. I was out there touring. I called Billy Joe Walker Jr., my producer--he used to be a session player for 20 years in L.A.--and said, "Why don't we go out there and get some of your old buddies together and let's go cut some sides," just for a change. It was interesting. I think Nashville is still the place though. Those guys [in L.A.], they did a great job. But they're just not used to cuttin' country records. They're not country players. It was an interesting experiment, but I think I'll stay in Nashville.

What was it like to play the concert for soldiers at Fort Hood who helped capture Saddam Hussein?

It was awesome. I was there for two days. The whole two days were awesome. We signed autographs for a few hours the first day. Jeff Bates, who is a labelmate of ours, he and his band were doing a show the first day. We got up and did a few songs with him. Then the next day, it was just incredible. That was the really big show. They had us on a big stage. It was about 30 foot up in the air. They estimated there were 90,000 people there when we did our show. People are far as you could see.

There were all these other stars. There were actors, all the wrestlers were there signing autographs. (World Wrestling Entertainment's) "Stone Cold" Steve Austin was there. Eddie Griffin, the "Undercover Brother" guy was there. It was really cool. There were just people from all walks of life there. Of course, we were all there for the same reason: to give a big welcome home to our troops who captured Saddam Hussein and had been away from their families for so long.

That was the most touching thing, to see them with their families again. What was even harder to see was when we were signing autographs, so many kids and wives coming through the lines whose fathers and husbands are still in Iraq. All of [the kids] were wearing buttons with their daddy's pictures on them. They'd want me to sign things for their dad. It's just sad. I know how much I miss my kids when I'm gone for a week. These guys have been gone, some of them, a year and a half. It was touching. I felt good about bringing a little bit of joy to their lives.