ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, October 7, 1996 TAG: 9610080043
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: CONCERT REVIEW
SOURCE: MADELYN ROSENBERG STAFF WRITER
Country radio still may be dominated by men, but there's no question who was in charge at the Salem Civic Center Saturday night.
In their first show together, Martina McBride and LeAnn Rimes gave the audience of 2,200 a good look at their tonsils with sets showcasing their vocal ranges.
McBride literally skipped around the stage as she sang "Two More Bottles of Wine," surrounded by fog that, with the angle of the lights, provided an ethereal quality appropriate for her Wild Angels tour.
McBride, a recent nominee for Female Vocalist of the Year, was the headliner here - though it wasn't so long ago she was an opening act herself.
She got her break warming fans up for Garth Brooks, whose T-shirts she'd been selling at concerts a few years before she started putting out her own music - with enough fiddle and steel guitar to make it country.
Highlights from Saturday's show included singles ``My Baby Loves Me,'' ``Safe in the Arms of Love,'' and a cover of the Everly Brothers' ``When Will I Be Loved?''
It's a question she needn't have asked: members of the audience screamed ``I Love You Martina'' throughout her 13-song set.
Her finale was Grammy-winning ``Independence Day,'' which she sang with an a cappella opening and fist-tightening conviction.
Her encore, a mellow ``That Wasn't You,'' was an anticlimax; people filed out early to get to their cars.
McBride said Patsy Cline had a big influence on all country singers. She certainly influenced Rimes, who has been compared to Cline in part for the voice break that is becoming Rimes' signature.
Her set opened with an a cappella version of ``Blue Moon of Kentucky.''
Rimes was completely at ease when she was singing, her pure voice filling the civic center. She was less comfortable between songs, introducing ``Blue,'' ``Hurt Me'' and Hank Williams' ``So Lonesome I Could Cry,'' in a rush. Thank goodness. She is, after all, 14.
``Reminds me of my daughter,'' one man whispered.
Her band, ``Blue Country'' was tight, but didn't get a chance to show off as McBride's band did, when the lanky fiddle player and 19-year-old steel guitarist ("Randall, have you met LeAnn?" McBride asked) were allowed to cut loose.
For her encore, Rimes came back with Dolly Parton's voice showcase ``I Will Always Love You,'' made a hit again in recent years by Whitney Houston.
At the Country Music awards, Parton had asked, ``Haven't you all heard enough of that song?'' The Salem audience hadn't, though.
Rimes' dad, Wilbur, was in charge of the sound mix during this family event and McBride's daughter, Delaney, was backstage. She toddled out twice where the audience could see her.
McBride introduced her brother, guitarist Marty Schiff, the way she's been introducing him nightly: ``Here's a guy I slept with for four years.''
And she was sure to ask the audience to look for her grandmother in her next video, ``Swinging Doors.''
LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) McBride KEYWORDS: 2DAby CNB