ALABAMA CONTINUES ITS STOCKPILING OF AWARDS

The 21st Academy of Country Music awards show got off to a late start Monday after President Reagan’s speech about the American military strike against Libya. But that didn’t dampen the celebratory mood for the winners.

“Not for me,” said jubilant lead singer Randy Owen of Alabama, the country pop band that was named both entertainer-of-the- year and top vocal group for the fifth time in the ceremony held at Knott’s Berry Farm. NBC’s live broadcast to the East Coast was held up for nearly an hour by Reagan’s speech and the subsequent analysis, but the West Coast tape-delay went on as scheduled at 9 p.m.

Alabama guitarist Mark Herndon saluted the attack on Libya on camera as the quartet picked up its fifth straight entertainer-of-the-year award when he said, “Godspeed, President Reagan, I think you done the right thing.”

But backstage a few minutes later, Herndon turned his comments to the group’s ever-growing stockpile of country music awards: “If I’ve got to buy a U-Haul trailer to haul these (awards) around, I don’t care. This is what we work . . . for all year. It’s not that we’re super-people or super-musicians, but we have the support of the people on our side.”

Otherwise, only a few references to the Libya action were made by the dozens of performers who met with the press outside Knott’s Berry Farm’s 2,100-seat Good Time Theatre in Buena Park for country’s second-most-important awards show.

“I think everybody’s still in a state of shock,” said Nicolette Larson, a presenter who won last year’s award for best new female vocalist. “But it seems like there’s an all-American undercurrent over what happened.”

Instead, most musicians talked about the show itself and the continuing resurgence of the traditional element in country music as evidenced by awards to Reba McEntire and George Strait as top female and top male vocalists respectively. Both were repeat winners in those categories.

Soft-spoken Texan George Strait, who also won the best album award for his “Does Ft. Worth Ever Cross Your Mind” LP, said he’s not worried that the back-to-the-roots country movement is just another short-lived trend like the “Urban Cowboy” pop-country fad of the late ‘70s.

“Traditional country has always been on tap,” Strait said. “But I’d hate to get into a traditional vs. pop debate.” With his two wins in the male vocalist category, Strait is now second only to Merle Haggard, who has won the award five times. “He’ll probably hold that record for a long time,” Strait said with a smile.

Oklahoma singer McEntire, however, said she doesn’t mind whether it’s a fad. “I hope so,” she said. “A bunch of people like me, George (Strait) and Ricky Skaggs could go for that.”

With all the talk about country tradition, Alabama’s Herndon put in a word for the contemporary country-pop camp to which he belongs. “This is 1986, not 1954 or the 1970s, and we’re going to play music for 1986 with a contemporary flair,” Herndon said.

The ACM’s Pioneer Award, which in the past has been given to country greats such as Hank Williams, Bob Wills and the Sons of the Pioneers, was given to Kitty Wells, whose more than two dozen Top 10 country hits in the 1950s and ‘60s included “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels” and “Making Believe.”

As only the third woman to get the Pioneer award in the 18 years it has been presented, Wells, 66, said: “I think (women) have been getting recognition they deserve and I think they will continue to be recognized in the future, as long as there are singers like Reba and the lady who won the new female award (Judy Rodman) tonight. She sure sounded country to me.”

The Judds, the mother-daughter duo from Kentucky, won as top vocal duet while “Highwayman,” the record that teamed Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson, was named single of the year.

Randy Travis and Judy Rodman were named top new male and female vocalists, respectively. “Lost in the Fifties (In the Still of the Night),” the nostalgic Ronnie Milsap hit written by Mike Reid and Troy Seals, was named best song, while the award for country video of the year went to “Who’s Gonna Fill Their Shoes,” George Jones’ musical tribute to country stars of the past and present. The Tex Ritter Award for best country motion picture was presented to “Sweet Dreams,” the musical biography in which Jessica Lange portrayed singer Patsy Cline.

Hank Williams Jr., who had been nominated for four awards, was on the receiving end of the biggest shutout of the evening by receiving no awards.

Though not as prestigious as the Nashville-based Country Music Assn.’s annual program, the ACM ceremony--whose awards are voted on by the group’s 2,800 members--has become the second-most-important country music awards show because of the television exposure afforded it.

MAJOR ACM AWARD WINNERS

Entertainer of the Year: Alabama

Top Male Vocalist: George Strait

Top Female Vocalist: Reba McEntire

Top Vocal Group: Alabama

Top Vocal Duet: the Judds

Top New Male Vocalist: Randy Travis

Top New Female Vocalist: Judy Rodman

Single Record of the Year: “Highwayman” (Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash & Kris Kristofferson)

Album of the Year: “Does Ft. Worth Ever Cross Your Mind” (George Strait)

Song of the Year: “Lost in the Fifties (In the Still of the Night”) songwriters Mike Reid & Troy Seals (Fred Parris)

Country Video of the Year: “Who’s Gonna Fill Their Shoes” (George Jones)

Pioneer Award: Kitty Wells

Tex Ritter Award for Best Country Motion Picture: “Sweet Dreams”