Countryfest '98

(CBS) 9 tonight

Reba McEntire opens this meandering cavalcade of country stars and would-be stars with a song about how her mother was sick and the baby was starving in a little one-room shack on the outskirts of town.

But (climactic electric guitar chords with a slightly funky drumroll), her mother gave her a chance to be a lady. Yes. And so here she was in her high boots and miniskirt, co-hosting the third annual two-hour survey of the industrialization of the pastoral known as country music.

The performers ranged from the venerable Clint Black, who's got something of a high lonesome sound, to the Kinleys, a pair of honey-blond sisters who wore black pantsuits and sounded like Tennessee Valley Girls. In between were acts including Kenny Chesney, a young gent with a blue button-down shirt and a song to match; Chris LeDoux, a former rodeo star who galloped through his music despite streams of sparks coming out of his guitar; and red-haired Wynonna, a country Mae West these days.

Co-host Neal McCoy visits the hot spots of Nashville, where he finds several young shots who are given 16 bars each to sell themselves. He and McEntire interview the older road dogs in frothy daytime TV style.

Tony Gieske