Lansing State Journal (Nov. 7th 2001)
New crop of stars
It was a dozen years ago that the country music world was transformed.
People called it the Class of '89. A rush of newcomers - guys with country souls and rock roots - caught on almost simultaneously.
And what about now? "I've been saying all along that it could be happening again," said Blake Shelton, who performed last week at the Breslin Center.
Shelton - whose first song, "Austin," stayed at No. 1 for five weeks - figures this might be the new crop. He also figures the Country Music Association awards (8 p.m. to 11 p.m. today on Channel 6, CBS) might be a good sign of that.
The prime example is Sara Evans, a virtual newcomer at 30. Suddenly, she leads everyone with seven nominations, led by "Born to Fly," the stirring song she also co-wrote and co-produced.
"I thought the song just felt right," Evans said. "I thought, this could be my 'This Kiss' or my 'Wide Open Spaces.' "
Those songs worked wonders for Faith Hill and the Dixie Chicks. Now Evans is on the way.
Other relative newcomers are in the running. The Chicks are up for the top prize, Entertainer of the Year. Evans and Lee Ann Womack are up for best female singer, Brad Paisley for best male.
The music-video field includes Jamie O'Neal, Evans and Womack. Then there are The Warren Brothers for duo and Nickel Creek for group.
There's also the Horizon Award. That always has newcomers - it's defined as an award for career progress - but this year's bunch is already achieving. It includes O'Neal and Nickel Creek, plus Jessica Andrews, Phil Vassar and Keith Urban.
Even some of the people who arrived too late to qualify this year (including Shelton) will get to perform on the telecast.
"Everybody talks about the Class of '89, with Clint (Black) and Garth (Brooks) and Alan Jackson and Travis Tritt," Shelton said. "But this seems like another good time."
He reels off the names mentioned above, plus Trick Pony, Chris Cagle and more.
Many of these are familiar names locally. Vassar, Womack, Cagle, Trick Pony and The Warren Brothers all showed up for this summer's Common Ground festival; O'Neal and Shelton opened for Lonestar at the Breslin.
Still, the prime exhibit is Evans.
Like many of the others, she has country roots. She grew up on a Missouri farm and started singing in groups - called the Evans Family Band and then the Sara Evans Band - when she was 4.
"We had mandolin, guitar, fiddle," Evans said. "We would go to all the bluegrass festivals."
For that matter, they played anywhere that wanted music.
"I grew up in bars," Evans said.
She got a relatively early record deal, cut two albums, but had only one hit, "No Place That Far."
Then came the sort of forced pause that can turn things around: Evans stepped off her tour to have her son, Avery, now 15 months old.
The new album could be done slowly, with Evans helping produce and write. The result produced "Born to Fly," the story of a small-towner ready to try the rest of the world.
"That was totally autobiographic," Evans said. "I love my family, but I was always staring down the road."
Now she's made it down the road, to Nashville's elite. "It's always great when you get to meet someone like Reba McEntire or George Jones," Evans said.
Shelton - an Oklahoma guy who has taken a one-song route to the top - is looking forward to that. "If I ever had a chance to meet George Strait or Dolly Parton, that would be something."