Stepper from Smyrna

Rising country star Chuck Wicks is a native of Smyrna. Not the town in Tennessee. Not even the one in Georgia. No, Wicks is from Smyrna, Del., population just over 10,000 and not exactly a hotbed of country talent.

Tomorrow night we'll find out if Smyrna is also an unlikely breeding ground for fancy dancers.

Wicks is a contestant on the eighth season of Dancing with the Stars, which debuts at 8 p.m. on 6ABC. The 29-year-old singer-songwriter isn't sure what he's gotten himself into.

"Everyone asks, 'Are you a good dancer?' I tell them I have no idea," he says. "I've never danced in my life."

At least he's got a good teacher. He's partnered with Julianne Hough, the pixieish two-time winner of the competition.

The two are partnered off the dance floor as well. In fact, even as he's talking, Hough is curled up about four feet away, fussing over Lexie, the couple's 8-month-old Cavalier King Charles spaniel.

They're on Wicks' tour bus, a constricted rolling cabana with a lounge and kitchenette up front and bunks in the stern. It's Saturday night and Wicks is about to perform at Prospectors Grille & Saloon in Mount Laurel.

Hough, who also is finding success as a country singer, met Wicks a year ago. They began dating in June when both were opening acts on a Brad Paisley tour.

But they hadn't planned on doing the paso doble together in front of 20 million viewers.

"I was on [Dancing with the Stars] last season dancing with Cody [Linley], and Chuck came out a lot," says Hough. "He was still on the Brad tour, but when he had a day off, he would come and see me."

"Just being a good boyfriend," he says.

"The producers and the casting director, they all fell in love with him because his personality is so funny and endearing," she continues. "They talked to him about being on the show. I had already pretty much committed to not doing this season."

Last month, the show formally invited Wicks to participate. A few days later, the producers called Hough and asked her if, given the circumstances, she might reconsider taking this cycle off. After giving it some thought, she agreed.

Ever since, the two have been stealing moments from Wicks' club tour to rehearse their moves.

"We're practicing on the barroom floor rather than the ballroom floor, but it's cool," he says. "We get up in the morning and start about 10 o'clock."

"We try to start at 10," Hough corrects him. "We get going about 2 usually."

Hough definitely has her work cut out for her. As Wicks talks about his career, she's watching footage of her boyfriend awkwardly shaking his booty at a raucous disco in Mexico on her laptop, a video that was surreptitiously shot and posted online.

"YouTube is a dangerous thing," he says ruefully.

The Delawarean is finding the rudiments of dance harder than he ever imagined.

"I don't know if dancing is considered a sport, but it should be," he says. "I'm finding muscles I never knew I had."

Later that night, Wicks tells the hooting, predominantly female crowd at Prospectors: "I fell today for the first time in practice."

It's not surprising that he's starting from scratch. The tango wasn't exactly mandatory where he grew up.

Wicks was raised on the family potato farm in the town north of Dover. "You had a great chance of driving down the road and knowing everyone you passed on the street," he recalls.

As often happens, his vocal talent first manifested itself as mimicry.

"I grew up as a shower singer," he says. "I would imitate all the guys I heard on the radio."

He got serious about music while in college at Florida Southern College in Lakeland, where he had gone to play baseball.

Moving to Nashville, he tried to break into the business while working at odd jobs, including valet parking at a Fleming's Prime Steakhouse near Vanderbilt University.

Signed to a development deal by RCA, he got dropped - "I wasn't ready," he says - and spent four years writing songs and cutting demos before signing a recording contract with the same label.

His first single, "Stealing Cinderella," made the Top Five on the country charts after its release in 2007. The song, about a suitor about to ask his girlfriend's dad for his blessing to propose, just might be the sweetest, most sentimental country song since "Butterfly Kisses."

The current single from his debut album, Starting Over, which came out at the beginning of 2008, is "Man of the House." It's a heart-tugging song about a young boy trying to fill his father's shoes while dad is serving in Iraq.

"It took me six months to write that because it was such a special story," he says. "I wanted to make sure I did it justice."

No matter how he fares on the prime-time dance floor, the exposure will doubtless boost his musical career.

"The challenge Chuck and other young male country artists face is that they have to differentiate themselves from each other in whatever way they can," says Ken Tucker, the Nashville correspondent for Billboard, via e-mail.

"His appearance on Dancing With the Stars could help make that connection between Chuck and his fans and maybe bring in some new ones. I'm not sure who made the decision from Chuck's camp, but it could turn out to be a great one."

Wicks has another leg up on potential stardom: his hunky looks, garnished with a permanent two-night shadow. How does one maintain such an impeccable scruff?

"He uses a bushwhacker," shouts his tour manager, Jerry Slone, from the back of the bus. Actually, it's a standard facial-hair trimmer.

"I shaved it off one time," he says of his starter beard. "I looked about 12 years old."

There isn't much time for personal grooming now that the show is starting.

"It's a seven-day-a-week job," says Hough. "We'll be doing it 12 hours a day."

In a celebrity field that includes rodeo cowboy Ty Murray, Access Hollywood cohost Nancy O'Dell, and hip-hop star Lil' Kim, there's no telling who is the toughest competition until the dancing starts.

"We always ask the producers, 'Who's good? Who's good?' " says Hough. "But they won't tell us. Once the first show comes on, we'll figure out what we need to do."

However it shakes out, you can count on Wicks to work his tail off. "I'm taking this thing very, very seriously," he says. "I would love to win."

Just do Smyrna proud.