Brooks’ Awards Show : Pop Music: The Country Music Assn. fete turns into a showcase for the chart-topping star. Gill, Yearwood and Judd also shine.

The 26th annual Country Music Assn. Awards show on CBS-TV couldn’t have come at a better time for Garth Brooks--and vice versa.

Brooks’ new album, “The Chase,” has just entered the national pop and country charts at No. 1 and Wednesday’s program gave him an ideal opportunity to promote the album in front of more people than would see him in years of touring.

At the same time, Brooks’ presence on the Nashville show probably prompted a number of curious pop fans to tune in to get a glimpse of Brooks and the rest of the new crop of country artists.

And Brooks made the most of the appearance, not just in picking up awards for entertainer of the year and for best country album of 1991 (the uneven “Ropin’ the Wind”), but also by choosing to perform “Somewhere Other Than the Night,” one of the new album’s most evocative numbers.

In his unprecedented country-pop rise, Brooks has often been associated--in his own TV special earlier this year and in video clips from his concerts--with the upbeat side of his stage show: lots of rock-style energy and flash.

But an equal, if not greater reason for his appeal is the way he sings tender songs with a conviction and passion that are rarely matched in any genre of pop. And Brooks reflected enough of that passion in “Somewhere,” a song about conveying feelings, to persuade a lot of people who were seeing him for the first time to take a chance on his album.

But Brooks wasn’t the only one who benefited from the telecast, which looked at times like a cross between the MTV Video Music Awards and the Grammys, the record industry’s official awards show.

The CMA show resembles the MTV spectacular in that the exposure outweighs the prestige of the awards themselves, while, like the Grammys, the awards sometimes seem based more on sales than merit.

The most boneheaded award Wednesday was newcomer Billy Ray Cyrus’ victory with “Achy Breaky Heart” over Vince Gill’s “Look at Us” in the best single of the year competition. Are the estimated 6,000 members of the CMA serious? Cyrus’ hyperactive performance of the song was probably the single dumbest TV appearance since Adam Ant did the “ant dance” on the Motown anniversary special almost a decade ago.

Not only was “Look at Us” voted song of the year, but it also helped Gill win the best male vocalist award. The only thing “Heart,” a catchy but thoroughly undistinguished novelty, had over the Gill record was sales.

Gill, who co-hosted the program with Reba McEntire, may have benefited from the telecast almost as much Brooks, both through the two awards for “Look at Us” and for his sensitive vocal on “I Still Believe in You,” a song from his latest album.

But two other artists also stood out, even though they didn’t win awards. Wynonna Judd, whose rock-tinged “No One Else on Earth” opened the show, demonstrated that she is comfortable and confident in her new solo role. Trisha Yearwood, who takes an extraordinary step forward with her new “Hearts in Armor” album, may have been even more affecting in her duet with Don Henley on the bittersweet “Walkaway Joe.”

The formal winners Wednesday, in addition to Brooks and Gill, included Mary-Chapin Carpenter, female vocalist; Diamond Rio, vocal group; Brooks & Dunn, duo; and Suzy Bogguss, Horizon Award (for most promising artist). In a long overdue recognition, George Jones, widely regarded as the greatest pure country singer alive, was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame.