season. "Dolly Parton," says the Oklahoma native, who is a huge fan of the music legend and even included a song about her—"What Would Dolly Do?" (aka "WW Double D")—on her upcoming country-pop album, "Some Lessons Learned."

"My producer said, 'Let's approach [the album] like what would Dolly do? What material would speak to her? You have a very similar spirit and positive outlook. What would Dolly do?'" she recalls. "By the end, I said, 'Why aren't we writing that song?' So we wrote it."

In addition to releasing her record this fall, Chenoweth will also star in the ABC series "Good Christian Belles" (formerly "Good Christian Bitches") as a bullied high school girl who grows up to become the belle of Dallas.

"She stirs the pot a little and alsoprays for everyone," she says. "My character is sort of—not the villain, because I'd love to think she's just misunderstood. She's been hurt by [co-star] Leslie Bibb's character, Amanda, who was a mean girl in high school. And now my character has overhauled herself and she's the queen bee and doesn't want that to be disturbed."

Chenoweth is also looking to play another misunderstood woman, Tammy Faye Bakker, in an upcoming Broadway musical by "Dreamgirls" songwriter Henry Krieger. "She had such an interesting, sad, yet wonderful life and great outlook," says the Broadway vet, who will do a reading of the musical this Friday. And yes, she plans to add a little extra to her eyelashes.

"It's all about the tear stains and the mascara running," she says.

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