Travis Has 5 Nominations in Fan-Voted Country Music Awards

Randy Travis leads the pack with five nominations in the TNN Music City News awards tonight.

It marks the first time The Nashville Network and the county music monthly publication have combined their fan-voted awards.

Travis, 30, a native of Marshville, N.C., was nominated for five awards--Entertainer, Male Vocalist, Video, Single and Album of the year. Joining Travis as nominees for the Entertainer of the Year award are Alabama, Ricky Van Shelton, the Statler Brothers and George Strait.

Nominated for Male Vocalist in addition to Travis are Clint Black, Rodney Crowell, Shelton and Strait.

Nominated for Female Vocalist are Patty Loveless, Kathy Mattea, Reba McEntire, Lorrie Morgan and Tanya Tucker.

Fans voted on their choices in two ways.

TNN set up a telephone balloting while the Music City News distributed printed ballots to its subscribers. Officials said voting has been spirited but no figures were announced.

Black, a Texas-born sensation whose initial album “Killin’ Time” went platinum with sales of more than a million copies, was also nominated for Star of Tomorrow, although the category would seem outdated for him.

Also nominated for Star of Tomorrow were Garth Brooks, Skip Ewing, Lorrie Morgan and Paul Overstreet.

The two-hour live show will be broadcast live by TNN at 6 p.m.