By J.D. Considine
Sun Music Critic
Originally published Oct 5 2000

The winners Entertainer of the Year Dixie Chicks Single of the Year "I Hope You Dance," Lee Ann Womack (special guest appearance - Sons Of The Desert)(Mark Wright) Album of the Year "Fly," Dixie Chicks, Monument Song of the Year (Awarded to the Songwriter and Publisher) "I Hope You Dance," Mark D. Sanders and Tia Sillers, sung by Lee Ann Womack Female Vocalist of the Year Faith Hill Male Vocalist of the Year Tim McGraw Vocal Group of the Year Dixie Chicks Vocal Duo of the Year Montgomery Gentry Vocal Event of the Year George Strait (a duet with Alan Jackson), "Murder On Music Row," MCA Musician of the Year Hargus "Pig" Robbins Music Video of the Year "Goodbye Earl," Dixie Chicks, Evan Bernard director Horizon Award Brad Paisley Broadcast Personality of the Year Major Market: Danny Wright, WGAR, Cleveland Large Market: Angie Ward, WTQR, Greensboro, N.C. Medium Market: Sean and Richie Show, WGNA, Albany, N.Y. Small Market: Lynn Sharpe, WUSY, Chattanooga, Tenn. Station of the Year: Major Market: KYGO, Denver Large Market: WFMS, Indianapolis, Ind. Medium Market: WIVK, Knoxville, Tenn. Small Market: WUSY, Chattanooga, Tenn.

For decades, country music was proud to be the sound of America's heartland. But things have changed in the heartland recently, and nowhere was that more evident than on last night's Country Music Association awards show.

Sure, most of the bands who played included fiddle players and pedal steel guitars, but more often than not, they were drowned out by the keyboards and electric guitars. But the sound they delivered was anything but traditional - and that was the point. As Male Vocalist of the Year Tim McGraw put it, "Things Change."

Well, yes. But in this case, they seemed to be changing into every other music awards show on television. And frankly, that probably left a lot of listeners wondering just how "country" the Country Music Association awards really are.

On the one hand, neo-traditionalists did very well this year. Lee Ann Womack's "I Hope You Dance" - which flashed back to the country pop aesthetic of the 1950s - did really well, winning both the Song of the Year and Single of the Year awards.

On the other hand, the Dixie Chicks - who snagged Entertainer of the Year, Album of the Year, Vocal Group of the Year and the Video of the Year awards - were the epitome of country crossover. Not only did they win the video award for "Goodbye Earl," a song about spouse-snuffing (take that, Eminem!), but they also performed "Sin Wagon," a straight-to-perdition number that found them gleefully celebrating all sorts of unwholesome pursuits.

Was it progress? Host Vince Gill seemed to think so. "We're doing pretty good," he joked. "We can talk about 'mattress dancing' on the CMAs."

Don't take that to mean the CMA awards have gone to heck. After all, the show did find room for 13-year-old Billy Gilman and his ultra-uplifting hit, "One Voice."

At the same time, it's also worth noting that Gilman came on not as a kid but as a pint-sized trouper, mugging shamelessly and even trying to snag Gill's gig as CMA host. Could it be that the CMA Awards has finally lost its innocence?

Well, duh. What else is the show supposed to do, when guys like McGraw (in "Things Change") are pointing to proto-rockers Hank Williams and Elvis Presley as country icons, while Montgomery Gentry picked up the Vocal Duo of the Year award for songs such as "All Night Long," which includes lyrics like, "We rock and we roll and we boogie-woogie all night long."

To quote Waylon Jennings: Are you sure Hank done it that way?

Watching the performance segments, it was tempting to say, "No." Certainly there was nothing Nashville about SHeDAISY, whose short spot during the Horizon Awards segment suggested some Music Row gloss on the Spice Girls. (The Grits Girls?) Not that their choreography and color-coordinated costumes swayed the voters, as the neo-conservative Brad Paisley ended up snagging the award. Even so, the question dangled throughout the evening.

"Everyone has questioned where I'm at," said Faith Hill, accepting the award for Female Vocalist of the Year. Hill, who has spent almost as much time on the pop charts as in the country Top-40, understood that there are many who wonder whether she'll remain loyal to Nashville or follow Shania Twain into crossover-land.

Tellingly, she didn't answer the question, choosing instead to thank her band, her fans, her management and her husband, Male Vocalist of the Year Tim McGraw. But you couldn't blame her for backing off from the issue.

How many other award shows would balance nods to tradition with acknowledgements of second-class status? But that's pretty much what the CMA Awards did, offering both Hall of Fame inductions (of Charlie Pride and Faron Young) as well as a genuflection toward 'N Sync. Yes, 'N Sync. Not only was the boy band's Lance Bass among the presenters, but co-presenter Sara Evans wound up gushing, "I have two teen-age sisters who are dying right now."

Take that, Lone Star.

Still, for every moment like Alan Jackson's performance of "www.memory," which found his band surrounded by both hay bales and computer terminals, there were also nods to traditionalist sentiment, as with George Strait's collaboration with Jackson, "Murder on Music Row," which won for Vocal Event of the Year.

Besides, show business gimmickry has always been a big part of country music. That's part of the reason the charming-but-smarmy Gill makes such a perfect host. Who else could deliver lines like: "Did you notice that the CMA awards are sandwiched between two debates, the presidential debates last night, and the vice presidential debates tomorrow. That's three nights of vocal duets."

If you say so, Vince. But I suspect those guys have a better shot at a national consensus than you CMA folk.