Clint Black Is Riding Tall in Music Awards

Unlike the predictable ending to so many Western movies, the stranger in the black hat could be the good guy Wednesday night in the 25th annual Academy of Country Music Awards.

Clint Black, whose black cowboy hat often camouflages his sleepy eyes, is going into the awards ceremony with five nominations, the most ever for a rookie in the competitive country recording industry.

Black, a relative unknown little more than a year ago, took the country music charts by storm with his premiere album, “Killin’ Time.” The album has sold enough copies to go platinum, and three singles released from it rose to No. 1 on the charts.

Black, a country traditionalist from Texas, also is the first performer to be nominated for best male vocalist and best new male vocalist in the same year.

His single “Better Man” was nominated for record of the year, “Killin’ Time” for album of the year and its title track for song of the year.

But the newcomer faces tough competition from Hank Williams Jr., who also took five nominations. Four of Williams’s award possibilities are for the song “There’s a Tear in My Beer,” a blend of old and new recording tracks that lend the impression he was performing with his late father.

Williams is also up for the coveted entertainer of the year award, an honor he has taken the last three years.

He will compete against five-time winner Alabama and one-time winner Dolly Parton.