NASHVILLE — Label owner, producer and singer/songwriter Kacey Jones splices her comedic bent with sensibility on her upcoming album, Every Man I Love Is Either Married, Gay, or Dead.

"With this album I was ready to express both sides of myself," Jones said. "There is nothing more satisfying as a musical humorist than to make an audience laugh. But in the same breath, it is just as exciting to move people with a sad song. So there are a couple of cuts on here that will surprise people."

Jones tempers her comedy in this collection with the virtually unknown Kinky Friedman ballad "Geography," as well as an emotional rendition of her mother's favorite song, "Over the Rainbow."

Jones also collaborates with Delbert McClinton for a remake of the Loretta Lynn/Conway Twitty tune "You're the Reason Our Kids Are Ugly," and soulful singer Jonell Mosser lends her voice to "Chicken or Dumplings."

Another standout on the 12-song release is the Tom Waits song "Christmas Card From a Hooker in Minneapolis."

"Tom Waits is my songwriting hero," Jones said. "I've been playing this song live for 15 years, and I'm so glad I'm able to finally put it on an album."

Even Jones' dog shares the spotlight, adding background vocals to "Peanut Sonata."

Peanut was one of the first dogs rescued by country singer/mystery novelist Friedman's Utopia Ranch organization, which will benefit from sales of this album. "She looks like the lovechild of Benji and Toto — so even if she sings terribly, you have to forgive her," Jones said.

Jones and Friedman teamed up to form Kinkajou Records, and she produced his tribute album — a tribute to himself — called Pearls in the Snow: The Songs of Kinky Friedman, which reached #1 on the Gavin Americana chart in 1999. The collection featured such notable guests as Willie Nelson, Dwight Yoakam, Lyle Lovett, McClinton, Lee Roy Parnell and Asleep at the Wheel.

In Nashville in the late 1980s, Jones formed the trio Ethel and the Shameless Hussies, who enjoyed a brief stint on the MCA Nashville roster and had two singles on the Billboard charts, "One Nite Stan" and "It's Just the Whiskey Talkin'." In 1998 she signed with MCG/Curb for the album Men Are Some of My Favorite People.

Jones said that some major labels are interested in the forthcoming effort, but the advance single, "Till Dale Earnhardt Wins Cup #8," is on her Irritating Gentile Optimist Records.

"You might ask, 'How could someone go from Kinky Friedman to Dale Earnhardt? They are like two different planets,' " Jones said.

The inspiration for the song came from her involvement as an entertainer in "Ladies Night in the Garage," a fund-raiser sponsored by Speedway Children's Charities. "Someone suggested I write a song about Dale Earnhardt's quest for the eighth championship cup and, at the time, it was like this person was speaking Egyptian to me," said Jones. "I had no idea what she was talking about, but I didn't want to be a phony. So I got into it and, in the process, really became a big NASCAR fan. It's not just about a bunch of guys turning left."

The song describes a wife going on strike from household duties until Earnhardt grabs the brass ring. "I have a reputation for writing a kinder, gentler form of male-bashing," Jones said.

Proceeds from the single will benefit Speedway Children's Charities and the Nashville chapter of Gilda's Club, a cancer-support center founded by Gene Wilder in memory of his wife, Gilda Radner.

"Till Dale Earnhardt Wins Cup #8" is available online on Jones' kinkajou website (www.kinkajourecords.com).

Jones is planning a tour to support the forthcoming album.