Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 26, 1990 TAG: 9004260537
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES LENGTH: Medium
Kathy Mattea, who won best song last year for "18 Wheels and a Dozen Roses," got the same honor this year for "Where've You Been" and won top female vocalist.
The meticulously dressed, soft-spoken Strait got the top honor after winning top male vocalist three times and top album once in past years.
But the big surprise was newcomer Black, 28, who burst onto the country music scene by picking up the singles award for "Better Man," the first song he ever wrote, and the album of the year for "Killin' Time," his debut record.
He also won for male vocalist and new male vocalist. He lost only to Mattea for best song.
Hank Williams Jr., nominated for six awards, picked up one for best video. In accepting, he read a sentimental letter to his legendary father, Hank Williams Sr., who died in 1953.
An old demo tape of "There's a Tear in my Beer" was found in the attic of songwriter "Big Bill" Lister. Hank Williams Jr. used modern technology to record it as a duet with his father and to appear with his father in the video.
The Judds, the mother-daughter singing duo, won best vocal duet trophy for the sixth consecutive year.
The 4-year-old Nashville band Restless Heart won best group, while Mary Chapin Carpenter of Washington, D.C., was voted new female vocalist.
Top new group honors went to Kentucky Headhunters, a wild, long-haired band that sports leather and suspenders.
Winners in instrumentalist categories, announced before the show, included Michael Rhodes, bass; Steve Duncan, drums; Mark O'Connor, fiddle; Brent Rowan, guitar; Skip Edwards, keyboard; Jerry Douglas, specialty instrument (dobro); Jay Dee Maness, steel guitar; Nashville Now Band, non-touring band; and Desert Rose Band, touring band.
Maness won the steel guitar honor for the 12th time.
by CNB