Clint Black Walks Off With Four Country Music Awards : Pop music: His debut album is a winner at academy show and in the record stores. The only other nominee to take more than one honor was Kathy Mattea.

This was the Academy of Country Music Awards, not “Battle of the Network Hunks.” But for many of the fans gathered in and around the Pantages Theatre for NBC’s national telecast on Wednesday, the distinction was minimal, thanks to the happy influx of new--and, incidentally, handsome--blood into the once-static world of country.

The overwhelming favorite of the Instamatic crowd outside the Pantages was the same as that of the industry voters inside: black-hatted country freshman Clint Black, of the perpetual smirk and raised eyebrows, who established a first at the 25th annual ACM ceremony by walking off with four awards for a debut album.

“Hold me up! I need oxygen,” panted Judy Hoskinson, 19, of Riverside, after having her picture snapped with Black backstage.

“I love Randy (Travis), but I think Clint blows him away in looks,” said Jean Smalley, who’d snuck into the press room with Hoskinson. “He’s shorter, but there’s a quality that makes us love Clint more than him. He’s so charming and cute. The dimples and those pretty eyes.”

And musically?

“Oh, you mean he sings, too?”

Good guys, it seems, do wear black. That’s one of 28-year-old newcomer Black’s trademarks, and even established star George Strait traded in his usual white hat for a black one Wednesday, perhaps hoping to share in Black’s unusual lucky streak. If so, it didn’t entirely work--Strait was flushed by Black in the male vocalist category, but did win the award for entertainer of the year, a category in which Black was not nominated.

In addition to best male vocalist, Black’s other awards were for best album (the million-selling “Killin’ Time”), best single (“Better Man,” one of his three No. 1 hits), and new male vocalist. Of five nominations--another ACM record for a newcomer--he was beat out only in the song of the year category.

That went to Kathy Mattea and the writers of her hit “Where’ve You Been,” including her husband, Jon Vezner. The only other nominee to be honored with more than one Hat Award, Mattea also won in the female vocalist category.

The Academy of Country Music has been based in Los Angeles for all of its 25 years, drawing a younger--and some would say slicker--membership than comparable Nashville-based organizations. For a musical genre so dependent on veteran artists, there were few weathered faces among the youthful Pantages crowd.

Which is not to say that new faces such as Black and Mattea are only appreciated by their peers.

“You remind me of Roy Rogers!” one of the few old timers on hand told Black, who was surrounded by a mob at the massive Palace party after the show as he tried to make his way toward his table.

Between autographs and Polaroids, Black waxed philosophical about his wins and the breed of “new blood” he represents.

The changeover “has to happen every so often,” he said, “and hopefully I’ll grow old enough in this business to see it happen again.

“There’s a lot more new people out there trying than ever, and I think there’s also a whole lot of new avenues of exposure to the music community than there used to be, with the videos and all the different television shows. Thank God that the record companies are signing ‘em and radio stations are playing ‘em.”

Other winners included Restless Heart (vocal group), Mary Chapin Carpenter (new female vocalist), the Kentucky Headhunters (new group), Hank Williams Jr. and Sr. (video, for the beyond-the-grave duet “There’s a Tear in My Beer”), and the Judds (vocal duet).

Naomi Judd, always quick to describe country music as a “family,” indulged in the usual provinciality backstage, noting that she saw the members of Alabama cheering wildly when they were beaten by Restless Heart in the vocal group category. “And I guarantee you wouldn’t see that in the pop or rock community!” she asserted.

That may be an exaggeration, but it is true that you probably wouldn’t see most pop or rock stars patiently standing in line for the party for close to a half-hour on a Hollywood street the way many of these country stars did. While waiting, they were serenaded by someone many of the Southerners on hand had heard about but never seen--an L.A. homeless person, wandering down the middle of Vine Street.