Country shocker: Spears wins top CMA award

Here is another fakeout news story.


Brittany L. Spears, the near-namesake of the famous singer and entertainer who had herself lived in obscurity, shocked the country music world by winning the biggest prize at the Country Music Association Awards Wednesday night - that of Entertainer of the Year.

Against a formidable field that included Kenny Chesney, Keith Urban, and Rascal Flatts, the 20-year-old bluegrass singer from Beattyville, Kentucky won the award in her first attempt.

At the moment she won, Spears dropped to her knees and cried. Her brother Blanton helped her up and she was able to walk to the stage to accept the award.

"I don't know what to say," Spears said on the live ABC telecast. "This is what happens when you are allowed to dream and make those dreams comes true."

"This is America's Susan Boyle right here," exclaimed Blanton later in one of a number of backstage interviews with the entertainment media. Boyle is the nearly-50-year-old woman who rose to become the most popular singer in Great Britain after appearing on the reality television show Britain's Got Talent.

Spears only became a solo artist in 2009 after years of being the lead singer of the Spears Family Band, whose albums are retellings of Appalachian folk tales through the medium of bluegrass music. The band consists of four generations of performers ranging in age from five to 62 years old. Because her name is a homophone of Britney Spears, she added her middle initial, which is different from Britney's.

In 2010, "When the Bough Breaks," a duet with Buddy Wayne Barefoot, gave Spears her first number-one song on both the U.S. pop and country charts.

Even with her increased popularity, no one figured that Spears would beat the Nashville establishment, with its slick production, professional songwriters, and marketing muscle, for one of its biggest honors.

"This is the greatest thing that ever could have happened to our music. It is on the map forever," said Alison Kraus, leader of the multiple Grammy-winning bluegrass band Union Station.

Spears married Barefoot in October 2009. The couple is expecting their first child in January 2011.

Don't blame me for a close election

The following is a fake-out news story.

Buddy Wayne Barefoot insisted today that the close margin in the race for the 2nd Congressional District seat in North Carolina should not be blamed on his decision not to endorse either candidate. The race, which was conducted in Barefoot's home area, is one of 11 still undecided, even three days after the election.

According to the latest returns, challenger Renee Ellmers, a Republican, trails incumbent Bob Etheridge, a Democrat, by about 1,600 votes, or about 1 percent. Etheridge has promised to seek a recount of all ballots if the margin dips below 1 percent when the state reveals its final certified tallies on November 11.

Barefoot insisted that a public endorsement would not have made a difference, but did admit to voting for Etheridge because "I had a feeling" that the GOP framed Etheridge in a video in which he gave an obscene gesture to a staffer who was posing as a reporter. Previously, he had endorsed Etheridge in every election; the two became friends over their shared backgrounds as basketball players at Campbell University.

"A lot of things are as work here," Barefoot explained to the media at Texas Motor Speedway. "First of all was that video that put doubt in a lot of people's minds, including my own and those in my family. Then there was the general trend of Democratic incumbents losing throughout the country. But what has made it close was that [officials in] Sampson County lost 3,000 ballots [on election night]. They counted them and Etheridge gained 443 votes."

He also acknowledged being spooked by a projection of Ellmers' victory by the Associated Press after Ellmers herself declared victory on election night. "I just hope those words don't come back to haunt her or the AP," he told the media.

Barefoot said that he reached out to both candidates and shared his hope that the battle be resolved as soon as possible.

(Photo courtesy of Politico)