Dixie Chicks, Gill and Jones Look Ready to Run Off With Wins

If there’s one name in country hallowed enough to make Grammy voters at least pause before giving Vince Gill the male vocal award he’s taken home seven of the last nine years, it’s George Jones.

But if history’s any judge, voters won’t show the smarts to award the Possum the sweep of male vocal, album and song that he’s earned with his valedictory performances on his “Cold Hard Truth” album.

Look instead for the academy to give Jones, who has just one Grammy, the male vocal award for “Choices,” which he’d deserve even without the sympathy factor of his near-fatal traffic accident last year.

Expect the Dixie Chicks’ fine “Fly” to take the album award, both because it was a hit and because it will validate voters’ selection of the Chicks for three Grammys last year. Voters probably will throw the Chicks a second Grammy for “Ready to Run,” the class of the duo or group vocal field.

Song of the year statuettes could well wind up on the mantels of Steve Wariner and Bill Anderson for their “Two Teardrops,” the sort of heart-tugger that snags voters every time.

A sappy choice, but it would save the academy the embarrassment of a second consecutive win in the category to Shania Twain and Robert John “Mutt” Lange (for “Come On Over”).

Still, there’s a chance that dark-horse nominee “Choices,” by Mike Curtis and Billy Yates, might slip through to the award it merits if the saccharine vote winds up being split between “Two Teardrops” and Lonestar’s sticky-sweet love song “Amazed.”

And count on sales to carry the day in the female vocal category, most likely to Twain’s showy “Man! I Feel Like a Woman!” over more restrained but deeply felt vocals from Alison Krauss and Emmylou Harris, with Krauss deserving the win just marginally over Harris for her greater dynamic range and emotional shadings.