Posted on Fri, Jan. 25, 2008

Phil Stacey has a laugh when noting who's who on the lineup at this year's Kiss Country Chili Cookoff Sunday in Pembroke Pines. Call it a reality-show greatest hits.

``We've got American Idol, Nashville Star and Star Search represented on that stage. Now, we have to find someone from America's Got Talent.''

Maybe next year.

But Sunday, the masses will recall Stacey as the chrome-dome Navy dad, stationed in Jacksonville, who finished in sixth place on American Idol last year. Traditionalist Chris Young is a Nashville Star winner two years ago and Mark Miller, lead singer for Sawyer Brown, did Star Search in the 1980s.

Stacey, 30, sounds like a Nashville star. Once he got past the bad Edwin McCain, Supremes, Police and Santana covers on AI he found his footing in country with a Keith Urban tune. He was the best thing on the otherwise dreary American Idols Tour in the summer.

''I felt more comfortable in country week, having roots in gospel and country,'' Stacey says on his cellphone. ``I only started singing rock after graduating from college. I joined the Navy band and they put me in rock.''

His message to this season's Idol hopefuls: ``I tried to be as diverse as I could be upfront and that was a mistake. For Idol contestants it's better to establish an identity. I grasped it on country week.''

Stacey, whose four years of active duty concluded in October (he's switched to active reserve as a mass communications specialist), joins the Lyric Street label, home to previous Idol finalists Josh Gracin and Bucky Covington. Both had country hits. Given that, and the success of Carrie Underwood, Kelly Clarkson and Kellie Pickler in the country market, Idol is trumping Nashville Star. Stacey's first single, If You Didn't Love Me, has commercial appeal. A full album is planned for April. Wayne Kirkpatrick (Little Big Town) is producing.

''If you've got a killer song that's what our industry is about,'' Stacey says. ``I'm fortunate.''