Country music world honours Dixie Chicks, Womack
2001-05-10 14:08
Los Angeles - The country music world
honoured its female stars on Wednesday as Texas trio the Dixie
Chicks, acclaimed singer Lee Ann Womack and veteran musician
Barbara Mandrell nabbed top prizes at the 36th annual Academy
of Country Music Awards.
The Dixie Chicks and Womack each won three trophies, with
the Chicks taking the coveted entertainer of the year prize.
Mandrell received the Pioneer Award for lifetime
achievement, a surprise accolade since she was under the
impression she was invited to the event to present an award to
producer Dick Clark.
The other multiple winner was Toby Keith, who won two
prizes, the first of his eight-year career. The Oklahoma native
went into the event with six nominations, tying with Womack for
the most nods.
As the evening progressed, it looked as if Keith would be
shut out, but then he won the album and male vocalist
categories in close succession.
Backstage, he told reporters he was disappointed that the
album's title track, "How Do You Like Me Now?!" did not win the
single and song races.
"For it not to get its deserved credit ... that breaks my
heart," he said, noting that it was one of the most-played
songs on radio last year.
The song and single awards went instead to Womack's "I Hope
You Dance," which she performed with backing group Sons of the
Desert. The song, an anthem celebrating hope and triumph, was
also named vocal event of the year.
"If I didn't dance before, I'm certainly dancing now,"
Texas native Womack said backstage.
She also paid tribute to the song's writers, Mark D.
Sanders and Tia Sillers, who shared the song prize.
"With a stroke of the pen, they have changed my life
forever," Womack said.
In addition to entertainer of the year, the Dixie Chicks
won the vocal group prize for the third consecutive year and
the video prize.
The group was represented at the show by fiddle player
Martie Seidel, who said singer Natalie Maines was tending her
baby son, while Seidel's sister, Emily Robison, was at home
trying to "make a baby." Seidel displayed a snapshot of Maines'
baby, Jackson, who was born in March.
The Texas trio won the video award for their clip "Goodbye
Earl," which features television actors such as Dennis Franz
("NYPD Blue") and Jane Krakowski ("Ally McBeal").
Country is a global phenomenon
In an intriguing development, the male and female newcomer
awards went to artists from Down Under - Keith Urban and Jamie
O'Neal.
Urban, who was born in the northern New Zealand city of
Whangarei, but raised in Australia, was turned on to country as
a youngster by listening to his parents' albums.
"I think it just means that country is a global
phenomenon," said Urban, 33, a surprise winner over youngster
Billy Gilman.
O'Neal, who was born in Sydney, Australia, and raised in
the United States, first gained attention as a songwriter for
other artists. Her turn in the spotlight came recently when her
debut single, "There Is No Arizona", topped the US and
Australian country charts.
"A lot of people will be going 'Who?' But hopefully we'll
change that soon," O'Neal said.
Faith Hill was named top female vocalist for the third year
in a row, while Brooks & Dunn took home the duo prize. Veteran
crooner Kenny Rogers received the previously announced Career
Achievement Award.
Mandrell, one of the biggest country stars of the 1970s and
early 1980s, offered some advice to aspiring performers while
talking with reporters backstage.
"Yes, you'll become discouraged, but don't you dare give
up. ... If somebody is negative around you, get away. Be
positive."
It was advice that the show's host, LeAnn Rimes, might take
to heart. The 18-year-old singer is embroiled in a lawsuit with
her label, Curb Records, and is feuding with her parents.
She opened the show singing a tune about her woes, sporting
a T-shirt emblazoned with "Daddy" across the front.