Nashville’s New Breed : Three of country’s rising stars are winning over fans with works that draw on influences ranging from Paul Simon to the Allman Brothers : TRAVIS TRITT : Rebel With a Cause

“What do you get if you play a country record backward?”

Country singer Travis Tritt pauses before he delivers the punch line:

“You get your wife back and you sober up.”

Tritt loves that joke--not because it’s a good-natured poke at his chosen field, but because it illustrates exactly what he’s trying to change about it with his rugged, longhaired biker looks and his rock influences.

“That’s the stereotype,” says Tritt, a 29-year-old Georgia native. “But we deal with so much more now. We deal with friends and wives, romance and the finding and loss of it, things like politicians and many things that are in tune with the American public.”

Says Tritt: “I had a guy about 18 come up to me after a concert and say, ‘I used to only listen to Poison and Metallica. Now I listen to you all the time; I listen to you and the Black Crowes.’ That’s a great compliment. . . . If all we’re appealing to is the traditionalists listening to George Jones, we’ll stagnate.”

Not that Tritt has anything against Jones and his generation of country stars:

“The first people I listened to were Merle Haggard and George Jones, Buck Owens and Johnny Cash. But when country started changing in the ‘70s, going for pop crossover, I quit listening. I went for things like the Allman Brothers, Marshall Tucker, Poco, Bob Seger. What brought me back was the outlaw movement . . . Waylon and Willie and Hank Williams Jr.”

And even with country’s expanded horizons making him part of the mainstream--he’s had seven No. 1 country singles and three hit albums, including his latest, “T-R-O-U-B-L-E”--he still enjoys playing the part of the rebel.

Tritt and fellow singer Marty Stuart are currently making their own joke of the Garth Brooks-Clint Black-George Strait types by billing their concerts together--including one Saturday night at the Universal Amphitheatre--as the “No Hats Tour.”

“We’re just saying our music is different and our look is different,” says Tritt, who co-stars with Kenny Rogers and Naomi Judd in “Rio Diablo,” a CBS-TV Western set to air early next year.

“Some of my best friends in the business wear cowboy hats. But personally I don’t wear one because I feel more comfortable on a Harley than on the back of a horse.”