Trends

Country stars have hitched their wagons to Hollywood since the days of Gene Autry. But the trail from Nashville to Tinseltown is getting shorter, with 10-gallon talents lassoing scripts and movie deals like crazy. ''One of my first jobs was Matlock,'' says Randy Travis. ''I got the bug and pursued it.'' Here, a few other screen honky-tonkers. -- Joe Neumaier and Zorianna Kit

Dwight Yoakam
Screen debut: A trucker in Red Rock West.
Other roles: Sling Blade, The Newton Boys.
Next up: HBO's WWII drama When Trumpets Fade (June).
Critics said: In Newton, he ''upstaged four of the prettiest boys in Hollywood.''

Travis Tritt
Screen debut: A gunslinger in CBS' Rio Diablo.
Other roles: Blues Brothers 2000, Sgt. Bilko.
Next up: CBS' tentatively titled The Long Kill.
Critics said: Tritt was ''surprisingly okay in his thespian debut.''

Clint Black
Screen debut: As himself on TV's Wings.
Other roles: The Larry Sanders Show, Maverick.
Next up: CBS' Still Holding On: The Legend of Cadillac Jack, airing April 28.
Critics said: His turn on Wings was ''better than Tritt in Rio Diablo.''

Randy Travis
Screen debut: A bartender in Young Guns.
Other roles: John Grisham's The Rainmaker, Fire Down Below.
Next up: Black Dog, due May 1.
Critics said: Travis ''projects the laid-back cool of a young Clint Eastwood.''

Reba McEntire
Screen debut: A survivalist in Tremors.
Other roles: The Little Rascals, CBS' Buffalo Girls.
Next up: CBS' drama Forever Love, slated for fall.
Critics said: Her turn in Girls was ''ladylike and demure.''