The 38th Annual Grammy Nominations : Country : Pop Influences the Big Picks

In nominating Canadian singer-songwriter Shania Twain for four Grammys, including one in the overall best new artist category, voters may be signaling a desire for the pendulum to swing back toward more pop-oriented records from Nashville.

Along with nearly 2.5 million people who bought Twain’s “The Woman in Me” album, Grammy voters turned thumbs up to her sultry, untwangy vocals and the nontraditional sound (read: more accessible to pop listeners) given the record by veteran rock producer Robert John “Mutt” Lange.

Twain’s nominations--which also include country album and female vocal--put her well ahead of such recent Grammy favorites as Reba McEntire (one nomination) and Trisha Yearwood (two). Further, bluegrass singer-fiddler Alison Krauss made less of an impression on voters than on the Country Music Assn., which gave her four top awards last fall. Still, Vince Gill remained the flag-bearer for the neo-traditionalists, earning three nominations.

The biggest surprise was maverick Texas singer-songwriter-guitarist Junior Brown’s nomination for best album alongside the Mavericks, Dwight Yoakam, John Michael Montgomery, Twain (still the favorite to win this category) and Trisha Yearwood.