Broader appeal

LeAnn Rimes first hit the country charts in 1996 with “Blue,” which prompted many to hail the then-13-year-old singer as the second coming of Patsy Cline.

Now she’s all grown up and has the audience to prove it.

“There’s a lot more men coming, obviously, now that I’m getting older,” Rimes, 22, says with a laugh from Houston, where she is on tour. “Every time I introduce my husband onstage, there’s a lot of booing.”

She’s attracting more than masses of leering lechers, though.

Aside from growing up, Rimes has broadened her audience by moving from country into a more mainstream pop sound with her 2002 record, “Twisted Angel.”

Chances are good she’ll reach new fans once more with her forthcoming album, “This Woman,” due in January. Rimes describes the disc as bearing the current influence of Nashville along with ‘60s rock, country and blues.

“I’m just experimenting. That’s the fun part of being an artist and being young,” she says. “Having had the success I’ve had and having the opportunity to do that, I think … I’m finally chipping away at my potential as an artist and with my own writing.”

About the only thing she hadn’t done was release a Christmas album. Rimes rectified that this fall with “What a Wonderful World,” which sets some of the biggest holiday standards alongside three of her originals.

It’s gutsy tackling tunes that already have definitive versions, such as the title track, “White Christmas” and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” But Rimes and her band, the always-sharp Brian Setzer Orchestra, manage to keep them from sounding worn out.

“I really wanted to keep the album pretty traditional and pretty classic,” she says. “Working with the Brian Setzer Orchestra made that amazing, to have a bit of a big-band feel.

“I picked my favorite version of other people’s (songs) and then kind of modified them to make them my own. I think putting my voice on those, the different inflections I have, I think that kind of makes it my own.”

So does adding a few of her own tunes, which range from poignant to classic-sounding to funky.

“The three original songs on the record have a little bit of a different kind of a vibe,” Rimes says. ” ‘Different Kind of Christmas’ was written after Sept. 11, when I just kind of realized how different the world will be from this moment forward, and how Christmas will be so different, especially for people affected by the attacks and the people fighting.”

The two other originals are very different.

“The song ‘I Miss You Like Christmas,’ we wanted to write a song that we thought already sounded like a classic and would hopefully be around for many, many years,” she says.

“And ‘Just Love Me,’ I was really excited by New Orleans and I thought, ‘How would they experience Christmas? What kind of music would they be listening to or playing?’ “

The answer, according to Rimes’ tune, is a sultry, slow-burning Delta-inflected holiday that never cools off enough for snow.

Her current tour is billed as a Symphonic Christmas concert but includes other numbers as well.

Then it’s back to broadening her audience, with efforts that include a pair of children’s books, co-written with her husband, about a young jaguar named Jag who learns important life lessons about topics such as peer pressure and self-confidence.

The books don’t do much for the men coming to her concerts, but Rimes says she’s noticed more children in the crowd.

“With the crossover success like I’ve had, it’s just brought me many different audiences,” she says. “I always say the people that come to my shows, they’re grandmothers who bring their daughters, and they bring their daughters.”