Purdue News

September 17, 1998 Martina McBride, Tracy Byrd to perform at Purdue WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Two "young country" recording and performing artists, Martina McBride and Tracy Byrd, will appear in concert at 8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 6, in the Elliott Hall of Music at Purdue University. The show is presented by Purdue Convocations. Tickets are $22.50 and go on sale at 10 a.m. Monday, Oct. 5, at campus box offices. Patrons may charge by phone at (765) 494-3933 or 1-800-914-SHOW. Members of Friends of Convocations who have contributed $50 or more may purchase tickets in advance. McBride started out selling T-shirts while on tour with Garth Brooks in 1991 (her husband, John, was Brooks' sound technician). From there she landed a contract with RCA Records and released a debut album, "The Time Has Come." She also opened for Brooks, appearing before more than 1 million fans on tour. Her second album, "The Way That I Am," eventually went platinum and spawned her first top-10 hits, "My Baby Loves Me" and "Life No. 9." Also on that album was "Independence Day," a dramatic song about domestic violence that established her as an artist. The song won the Country Music Association's Video of the Year, TNN/Music City News' Video of the Year, and Nashville Music Award's Video of the Year. The title track of her third album, "Wild Angels," became her first No. 1 hit. In the same year -- 1995 -- she was inducted as a cast member of the Grand Ole Opry. "Wild Angels" went on to win the Nashville Music Award for Best Country Album of 1996. McBride also ventured into the adult contemporary arena when pianist Jim Brickman approached her to sing the vocal on his "Valentine," which went to the top of the adult contemporary charts in 1997. Most recently her fourth album, "Evolution," has gone gold and the single, "A Broken Wing," has topped the country charts. McBride will perform the first half of the concert, and then Byrd will take the stage. The list of his accomplishments includes three gold albums and one double-platinum album, "No Ordinary Man," which contains "The Keeper of the Stars," an Academy of Country Music Song of the Year. Byrd's latest album, "I'm From the Country," already has launched two hits, the title cut and the ballad, "I Wanna Feel That Way Again." A return engagement for Byrd (he played at a Lafayette dance hall in 1997), the concert will show his versatility. Texas Monthly magazine described that earlier appearance like this: "Byrd got the crowd going with 10 or so foot-stomping hits, then laid into a string of vintage songs, (including songs by Hank Williams Sr., Merle Haggard, Bob Wills and Ernest Tubbs) Byrd is carrying country's torch perhaps because so many of his hit-making peers disregard its roots." Other Byrd hits include "Don't Take Her, She's All I Got," "Lifestyles of the Not So Rich and Famous," "Watermelon Crawl," "The First Step," and "Big Love." Writer: Sue N. Stevens, (765) 494-5045; e-mail, snstevens@convos.purdue.edu Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; e-mail, purduenews@purdue.edu To the Purdue News and Photos Page