Gill, Tucker Stage Upsets at Country Music Awards

The news from the 25th annual Country Music Assn. awards wasn’t the four awards Garth Brooks won--including the big one, entertainer of the year--but the three taken by Vince Gill and the one by Tanya Tucker.

While Brooks, who has led country music’s artistic and commercial resurgence of the past year and whose new album entered the national pop chart at No. 1, was expected to dominate the awards (presented Wednesday in a nationally televised ceremony from Nashville), Gill’s male vocalist prize and Tucker’s female vocalist award rank as mild and major upsets, respectively.

“It was a big surprise,” Lon Helton, Nashville bureau chief of Radio & Records magazine, said Thursday of Tucker’s victory. “Reba McEntire was the favorite, with her year of hits. She was also a sentimental favorite because of her tragedy--losing her band in that plane crash.

“But Tanya had been nominated so many times and hadn’t won, even though she had put out some great records. She had a good year, so the voters finally said it was time to give her what she deserved.”

Tucker’s first CMA honor was only the second most memorable event of her day. That afternoon, she delivered her second child.

Helton believes that Gill’s male vocalist win was more predictable. “Garth was expected to win, but no one was that surprised that Vince won. I think maybe everyone was voting for Garth in several categories and they just figured that Vince should get something for the wonderful year he’s had. . . . He’s one of the most well-liked and well-respected people in the industry. People wanted to honor him in some way.”

In addition to the coveted entertainer of the year award, which George Strait won the last two years, Brooks earned honors for best album (“No Fences”) and best single (“Friends in Low Places”). He also shared director Bud Schaetzle’s best video triumph for “The Thunder Rolls”--a controversial video dramatizing the murder of an abusive husband by his wife that was banned by Country Music Television and the Nashville Network.

Many notable artists were nominated for several awards and went away empty-handed. Shut out were Alan Jackson (six nominations), McEntire (four nominations), Clint Black (three nominations) and George Strait (two nominations).