Show scribes the new strategy: Albums are released fester more singles are plucked from albums and promoted up the charts albums are kept in the marketplace longer propped up by the singles to have a better shot at becoming gold records (500000 albums sold) A sign of fast times: For the first year ever in Country Music Awards history all five Horizon nominees for best newcomer already have gold records But there’s more to Jackson’s appeal than marketing and looks There’s the barroom-styl- e music — country After years of glitzy country this traditional music is back with a younger face Call them Nouveau Honky-Tonke- rs call them Hats (as in cowboy hats) these singers are hot Following on the boot heels of his Stetson-toppe- d brethren — Ricky Van Shelton Garth Brooks George Strait and Clint Black — Alan Jackson is one of the hottest The reason? “Finally finally we’ve attracted a younger crowd” says Steve Sharp promotion director for Arista Records Jackson’s label ‘They want traditional country but they want these new young handsome guys singing it” Bottom line: “Artists have to look good to be considered You can’t have a fet ugly guy making records” Monday’s Country Music Awards on TV will showcase a new kind of singing sensation - ed ed media-savv- y stars like Alan Jackson who burn up the charts with big-lab- el backing And a new generation offans is tuning in The only downer? “We already checked out his wedding ring” Immediate appeal aside does Jackson cahave what it takes for a long-ter- m reer? It’s too early to tell according to country insiders but the signs are good Most cite his songwriting skill and genuine country-bo- y personality as a solid foundation for the long run As Bill Ivey director of the Country Music Foundation sees it: “He’s been talked about for quite a while now I’d guess that he’s going to last” Obviously not all promising newcomers do They generally get good reviews as Jackson has — country music is known for its encouraging press But they don’t always sustain chart success hit in Keith Stegall had one top-1- 0 1985 Pretty Lady now he’s a producer — working with Jackson And the pace is getting more frenetic “Country artists used to be known ar for careers It can be a much quicker turnover now” says Bob Oer-maThe Nashville Tennessean's counmusic try expert ‘They’re finding new 20-ye- nn talent faster” Not surprisingly marketing — always important in the slick pop world — is gaining the same edge in country executive director Jo Walker-Meadof the Country Music Association de or Jackson spent a long time becoming an overnight sensation In Newnan Ga where he grew up show biz was the impossible dream You went to high school then the local community college then you got a job His passion was cars: He bought his first a ’55 at age 15 with $3000 he’d saved working from age 12 at a restaurant Jackson met his future wife Denise the way too: in high school They married when he was 21 she 19 Now they and daughter Mattie have just moved into a new Nashville house bought with earnings from his first hit record T-Bi- rd Jackson grew up loving country mu- sic and its stars especially good ol’ boys George Jones and Merle Haggard and eventually put together a band “People would tell me You sing good you should do it professionally’ But I didn’t think I could take it that fer” Eventually though he did: In September 1985 he and Denise moved to Nashville with a sense of mission “It seemed to me that there were no young acts coming along in the tradition of George Jones and Merle Haggard So I thought shoot somebody needs to go up there and carry on the tradition” He arrived in Nashville just as Randy Travis was releasing his first record to do the same thing Jackson thought Travis’ success would foster his own “I was sure boy them record labels are going to be signing every country singer now from Nashville to Norway “But they didn’t They signed a lot of acts but not a lot of country singers Ricky Van Shelton — he’s smooth like Marty Robbins Clint Black is traditional but not real country I was but I couldn’t get a deal I told people that I was too country for Nashville” So he got a job in the mailroom at the Nashville Network cable channel where he learned industry ins and outs by reading trade papers he routed Almost a year later he was put on salary by Glen Campbell’s music publishing company as a songwriter the delayed result of a classic show-bi- z break: Just before they moved to Nashville his wife had corralled Campbell at an airport and gotten his business card Jackson and his band also hit the road Traveling in a van and a trailer setting up the PA system themselves playing five sets a night five nights a week was a rough stretch It makes his life now — traveling in this plush bus with people looking after him and sets — look easy playing “Shoot now it’s like a vacation” and is sure Denise wouldn’t But he hates being away from his daughter “She’s becoming a person now She really looks up at you and smiles” Touring became a given though once he finally got his recording contract last year Arista — a power in the pop field with stars like Whitney Houston but a novice in country — picked him as its first Nashville artist Now as he prepares to take Denise and his parents to die CMA show he’s looking to next year He’s working on an album due in the spring aware that critics will take a harder look “It does make you feel that you have to come up with something as good or better” He’s also set to open for the band Alabama next year a coveted spot for a newcomer (Fellow country heartthrob and Nouveau Honky-Tonk-er Clint Black had the spot this year) Beyond those pinnacles though he doesn’t yet know what to hope for “I was telling someone the other day that I caught up to all my goals so fast that I haven’t had a chance to make new ones I even got on the Grand Ole Opry and Hee Haw this year When I was growing up I thought that if you could be on Hee Haw you’d made it “So I thought ‘Boy here I am on Hee Haw in the cornfield I guess I really have made it’ ” 45-min- The only hard part is leaving Denise and Mattie He loves being on the road (“If I’m home two days I get restless”) COUNTRY’S TOP 10 NEW ACTS Here are the hottest country music acts (and their albums) picked by Bob Oermann music writer for The Nashville Tennessean’: Clint Black killin’ time Houston honky-ton-k with a fresh new look Garth Brooks no fences Tender songs mixed with Jann Browne If Emmylou Harris good-natur- ed rowdiness me why tell had a sister back singing California she'd sound like this Kentucky HeadHunters in pickin’ on NASHVILLE As zany as it gets The raucous longhaired spawn of Hank Ivilliams Jr Shelby Lynne tough all over torch ember A singer who glows like an Tim Ryan tim ryan Sweet sentimental and Doug Stone DOUG STONE Barroom ballads from deep in the heart of Georgia Marty Stuart ROCK Rockabilly lives again HILLBILLY Travis Tritt COUNTRY CLUB A new face for redneck rock Kevin Welch KEVIN WELCH Hip country rock for country new-wave- rs Shelby Lynne USA WEEKEND October 5-- 7 1990 S |