THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 22, 1994 TAG: 9406220045
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANK ROBERTS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940622 LENGTH: Medium
Whatever you guessed - you guessed wrong.
According to the Nashville Tennessean newspaper, the winner in that department at the massive annual country music fan gathering was Daron Norwood.
{REST} ``Maybe it was because I was doing my own selling - t-shirts and stuff like that,'' he said, during a phone conversation from the Dollywood theme park. ``I was a regular guy - hugging kids - not trying to be a politician.
``I was entertaining, even if somebody just wanted an autograph. Many people came back a second and third time.''
His problem is trying for similar success in selling records.
``I had a couple of songs in the Top 20,'' Norwood said, ``but I haven't yet had the biggie.''
Those Top 20 pieces are ``If It Wasn't For You,'' his first success, and ``Cowboys Don't Cry.''
The cowboy - yes, he is yet another Texan - is not crying, but he is trying to land his first No. 1 record.
Norwood has several things going for him - he is a good musician and songwriter. He's also a doting dad to 7-year-old Krista Norwood, who was in Daddy's shadows at Fan Fair, sometimes racing ahead of him.
``Hi, I'm Krista Norwood,'' she says, then introduces Pop as he's being interviewed by television and radio stations.
``She took over at the booth, too,'' said Norwood. ``She signed autographs and did interviews.''
Norwood has completed his third video, ``If I Ever Love Again.'' ``It's about a guy who loses the best thing he ever had,'' Norwood said.
Norwood's show business career began around Tahoka, Texas - he was born in Lubbock - encouraged by ``my Paw Paw and Granny,'' he said, referring to J.T. and Mary Jo Miller.
The bond is so close between Norwood and Paw-Paw that he wrote a lovely song about him, ``J.T. Miller's Farm.''
When the youngster left the farm, and Texas, he did what most redblooded country wannabes do, headed to Nashville.
He got jobs as pianist for Jim Ed Brown, Shelly West and Rex Allen Jr. He got another job singing at a Nashville club, where he was discovered and later signed by Giant Records.
That means you can add Norwood to the list of good-voiced, handsome, young male country singers competing for top spots on the charts.
``It's a competitive business, but there's another side of the coin,'' he said. ``Doug Supernaw, Clay Walker, John Michael Montgomery, Mark Chesnutt, Sammy Kershaw - we all get along with each other.
``We know some records are beating out others. We also know it takes more than talent to get there,'' Norwood said. ``Some sing better than others, some perform better than others, but marketing makes it work.''
by CNB