Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 5, 1995 TAG: 9510050072
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NASHVILLE, TENN. LENGTH: Medium
Jackson, the top nominee with six, won the highest award just when it looked like he would go home without a trophy.
He was nominated but didn't win for best male vocalist, album, single, vocal event (with George Jones) and video.
``I've been playing from truckstop lounges several years ago to 50,000 people at the Houston Astrodome,'' Jackson said after the show. ``I feel qualified [to win].''
Krauss, the premier bluegrass singer and a formidable fiddler, had never even been nominated by CMA voters before this year. She won in all four categories in which she competed: female vocalist, the Horizon Award for most promising artist, best single for ``When You Say Nothing at All'' and vocal event for a duet with the group Shenandoah, ``Somewhere in the Vicinity of the Heart.''
``I'm going to have to go get a flask or something!'' Krauss said the fourth time she was called to the podium. She looked increasingly mystified at each trip. ``This is really weird, you guys,'' she said twice.
Vince Gill, the host of the show, won an unprecedented fifth straight male vocalist award.
No one else has won more than two in a row, with the most recent back-to-back wins those of Randy Travis in 1987-88.
Gill was unseated by Jackson after two years as entertainer of the year.
Brooks & Dunn kept a streak going with their fourth straight vocal duo nod, matching legendary twosomes The Judds and Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn.
The Judds ruled from 1988-91, and Twitty and Lynn from 1972-75.
Fiddler Mark O'Connor won musician of the year for the fifth straight year: ``It seems like it's a good night for fiddlers,'' he said.
In other categories, new blood broke through.
The Mavericks ended a three-year reign by Diamond Rio in the vocal group category, and Patty Loveless' ``When Fallen Angels Fly'' upset offerings by John Michael Montgomery, George Strait, Gill and Jackson to win best album.
Gretchen Peters, a songwriter on the verge of launching her own recording career, won the best-song award for ``Independence Day,'' a hit she wrote for Martina McBride.
The show, broadcast live on CBS, began with a sexy entrance by Shania Twain, who vamped her way through the audience while singing her hit, ``Any Man of Mine.''
Other standout performances: Mary Chapin Carpenter on a stately ``Where Time Stands Still'' and a duet by Faith Hill and Shelby Lynne backed by a gospel choir, ``Keep Walkin' On.''
Russ Taff, a contemporary Christian performer trying to conquer the country market, made humorous points with a short ditty he announced was an attempt to ``suck up'' to radio programmers, while Montgomery performed fresh from throat surgery.
Singer-songwriter Roger Miller (``King of the Road''), who died in 1992, was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Wife Mary Miller, a former member of Kenny Rogers and the First Edition, accepted on his behalf.
``I'm just sick that he wasn't here to accept it,'' she said. ``It would have made his life.''
Also inducted was Jo Walker-Meador, head of the CMA until 1991.
by CNB