THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 17, 1995 TAG: 9508170052
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANK ROBERTS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines
IT'S BLACK BERRY pickin' time Sunday at the Little Creek Amphibious Base in Norfolk.
And the Clint Black/John Berry concert is just one-third of the Eagle 97 Country Concert Weekend.
There will also be Nashville-based performers at the Fort Eustis Army Base and at the Franklin-Southampton County Fair in Courtland.
There was a last-minute change at Fort Eustis when Tracy Byrd flew the coop.
``Tracy Byrd canceled,'' said Kurt Etheridge, Eagle's program director. ``He just said it was for personal reasons.''
The Eagle beak drooped until the station managed to pluck Crystal Gayle out of the Nashville woods. She will appear with Mark Collie, whose ``Three Words, Two Hearts, One Night'' is high on the charts.
Also high on the charts is ``Should've Asked Her Faster,'' by Ty England, one of the three performers scheduled for the fair in Southampton.
The others are Archer/Park, the singer-songwriting team, and old-time country comic Jerry Clower.
Here's a closer look at all the folks, except for Mark Collie, who gave an interview for the accompanying story.
Clint Black: Billboard magazine's broadcast data system says he was the most-played country artist on radio from December 1993 to October 1994.
His ``No Time to Kill'' album spawned five singles. Overall, he has sold 8 million LPs and 12 No. 1 singles.
The Black concert at Little Creek is tied in with USA Harvest, an all-volunteer food distribution organization. Concertgoers are asked to bring non-perishable foods, to be distributed locally.
John Berry: One of country music's hottest new singers will open the show at Little Creek. Songs like ``Your Love Amazes Me'' and ``Standing on the Edge of Goodbye'' have put this singer on the edge of stardom.
Southern country blues and ballads are his stock in trade. Like Black, he writes most of his own material.
Crystal Gayle: A product of the Kentucky hills, Gayle is one of the more sophisticated country performers.
Gayle is a regular on ``The Statler Brothers Show,'' the most popular offering on The Nashville Network. The song that put her on the map is ``Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue,'' which has become a standard. Other Gayle hits include ``Somebody Loves You'' ``When I Dream'' ``Talking in Your Sleep'' and ``Why Have You Left the One You Left For Me.''
Ty England: Garth Brooks' college roomie, and his guitarist for six years, recently went out on his own. He is at home with Oklahoma kickers, western-flavored blues and ballads.
Alanna Nash, writing in Entertainment, gives the album ``Ty England'' an A and notes, ``Not even Garth's first record was this winning.''
Archer/Park: Randy Archer and Johnny Park, who had been writing hits for others, decided to tackle their own material.
The first song, ``Where There's Smoke,'' typifies their energetic offerings - some country, some rock, some country-rock.
Jerry Clower: The Yazoo City, Miss., native held a number of jobs - including fertilizer salesman - before deciding to tell funny stories for a living.
Clower tells tales about the strange members of his family, and the thrill of hunting coons. If you're used to Ray Stevens and Jeff Foxworthy, this old-timer will be a strange bag. ILLUSTRATION: Color photos
MARK COLLIE
CLINT BLACK
Graphic
THE SCHEDULE
[For complete graphic, please see microfilm]
by CNB