Coming off her sixth-place finish on season 2 of Idol, Utah native Carmen Rasmusen, eager to return to her country-music roots, headed to Nashville in search of a record contract. Imagine her surprise when most label execs wrote her off, as she puts it, as a ''bubblegum reality-show contestant.'' Undaunted, Rasmusen self-released a four-track EP and returned to Music City to try again. That trip, while not as discouraging, still produced the same result: No deal. Rasmusen recalls one Capitol Records honcho listening to her songs in summer 2004 and remarking, '''This is good, but if I were to put in a Martina [McBride] record, it wouldn't compare. You are not up to her level — yet.''' (Honestly, he sounds like a nice guy when you compare him to Simon Cowell...and we'll get to that in a moment.) Today, however, with a full-length disc in the hopper, Rasmusen is hoping the third time will be the charm; she says she's currently in talks with three major labels to release the album — and credits her harshest Idol critic with helping her to develop her remarkable tenacity. ''I had to grow some really tough skin and realize what the music industry is about,'' Rasmusen says. ''I don't think I would have been prepared for that if it hadn't been for Simon Cowell.''