The 32nd annual Country Music Association Awards ceremony, three hour of music, thanks and salutes, will air live at 8 p.m. EDT on CBS from the Grand Ole Opry. Vince Gill will host for the seventh consecutive year.
If Texas rancher George Strait wins the coveted entertainer trophy, it will be his third. His latest album has gone platinum and his 18-city tour this past year grossed $35 million, one of the most lucrative in the business.
Hot after the award, however, is superstar Garth Brooks, who would become the first four-time winner of the honor if he takes it home again. He already has chalked up more than 80 million total album sales to become the best-selling solo artist in U.S. history.
Brooks and Dunn are after their second consecutive win. Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn became the first duo ever to win the entertainer prize when they took it last year.
For Gill, a win would be his third such honor and an addition to his collection of 17 various CMA awards -- more than any other any other artist has claimed.
On the heels of those four performers is Tim McGraw, the son of legendary baseball pitcher Tug McGraw, whose sole CMA win was last year's Vocal Event of the Year. The 31-year-old McGraw, a self-styled ``honky tonk'' singer with three multi-platinum albums and seven No. 1 hits, hopes to stun the ``veterans'' by winning the big prize.
In addition, McGraw and another newcomer, Collin Raye, will go head to head for male vocalist of the year against Strait, Brooks and Gill. The 38-year-old Raye surprised the conservative country music business by turning out hits with socially conscious themes. He has five platinum records and nine No. 1 singles to his credit, totaling more than five million sales.
Among the female contenders, Trisha Yearwood can make it two in a row for female vocalist of the year but would fall far short of the record of the four in a row set by Reba McEntire.
Yearwood is up against Faith Hill, wife of McGraw, who won a CMA last year for a duet with her husband; Martina McBride, who won a CMA award in 1994, and Lee Ann Womack, nominated last year for the Horizon Award. Womack lost out on that award to LeAnn Rimes, who was shut out of the nominations this year.
Three young female singer-musicians who call themselves the Dixie Chicks will vie against fellow newcomers Trace Adkins, Jo Dee Messina and Michael Peterson for the Horizon Award, which goes to the act showing the most significant creative growth. All have broken through in the business in the past two or three years.
The Dixie Chicks are Marty Seidel, 28, Emily Erwin, 26, and Natalie Maines, 23.
Vocal group of the year could be taken by Alabama, the veteran four-member band, which would make it their fourth win in this category. However, they are up against Diamond Rio, the six-member band that has won it four times and has just become the first band since 1984 to join the Grand Ole Opry.
The three other contenders are the Mavericks, who have become genuine rock stars in Europe while pursuing their country career; Sawyer Brown, first group to win the CMA Horizon Award in 1985; and the Dixie Chicks.
After 11 nominations and no wins, the Bellamy Brothers are a popular hopeful to overturn the odds in the vocal duo class. The Florida-based pair has had hits since 1976 but no CMA awards.
They are up against the well-established Brooks ? Dunn and three newcomers, including two sets of twins -- the Kinleys and the Lynns -- and the duo act Thrasher Shiver.
Heather and Jennifer Kinley already have won a Grammy in their short career while the second set of twins, Patsy and Peggy Lynn, hope to make their famous mother, Loretta Lynn, extra proud on awards night. During her career, the elder Lynn won eight CMA trophies. Thrasher Shiver, a two-man act, has turned out hits ``Be Honest'' and ``Goin', Goin', Gone.''
Awards also will be given for album of the year, musician of the year, single of the year, vocal event of the year, song of the year and music video of the year.
Reuters/Variety