Picayune singer nominated for indie award

LISA DAMIANO
THE SUN HERALD

DiAnne will be the first to admit it: "I'm just a good ol' country girl."

If she weren't, this Poplarville native might not be where she is right now, preparing for perhaps the most satisfying moment in an up-and-coming country singer's career.

DiAnne has been nominated for the Airplay International King Eagle Silver Artistic Trailblazer Award. Quite a mouthful, but also a big compliment for a singer-songwriter who didn't even realize anyone in the industry had a copy of her CD.

"I thought I was sending (my single 'Are You an Angel') to Germany," DiAnne said recently by phone from Picayune. "You could have floored me when I found out I was nominated. I didn't realize I was getting that much attention."

"Somehow the single wound up in Nashville," said C.L. Shaifer, DiAnne's manager and husband. "They told us several people nominated her, but the only name I could get was Rangler Gene from a radio station in Nashville."

Trailblazer nominations are submitted by members of the country music industry, including fellow artists, radio and studio personnel, publishers and fans. The awards recognize artists who have made a worthy contribution to country music. A panel of judges from the Independent Country Music Association decides which nominees move on to the awards and eventually win.

As if the nomination weren't enough, DiAnne has been asked to perform Sept. 28 at the King Eagle Awards and Homecoming Festival in Nashville, a prospect that has her "tickled."

"I just love to sing," she said. "I'll sing to anyone that will listen to me.

"And I can't wait to meet Jett Williams -- that's Hank Williams Sr.'s daughter -- and hopefully Ernie Ashworth (of the Grand Ole Opry) ... I have met some very nice people through all of this."

Many of those people have been part of a country music tradition that helped shape DiAnne's singing style and career goals. She grew up on the rootsy country of George Jones and Tammy Wynette, and "Are You an Angel," the January release that has brought DiAnne so much recognition, shows her to be every bit the "good ol' country girl" she claims to be. Her vocals are reminiscent of the female singers of old and put to rest the myth that you have to sound pop to make it these days.

"It's not that I don't like (the pop country)," DiAnne said. "But we're trying to get the old country back ... We need to stick together. If we don't it's going to be lost forever."

DiAnne has enlisted Skip Easterling and Jeff Zapata in her personal campaign for traditional country. Easterling, a songwriter from New Orleans and former piano player for Freddy Fender, has co-written songs with DiAnne, including an environmental ballad, "Mother Earth," which was published in the Association of Songwriters and Lyricists 1999 Anthology. Zapata is in the process of producing DiAnne's upcoming full-length CD which she hopes will be out next spring. Zapata also plays bass behind her, wrote several songs for the CD and will tour with DiAnne on her French tour next summer.

The CD also includes a song by Joe Barry, one of the originators of Louisiana swamp rock, who had hits with "I'm a Fool to Care" and "You Belong to Me."

DiAnne has cut back on her regional touring to record the full-length album. She said she's had so many requests for CDs she decided she had to do it quickly. But she can't wait to be back performing live and touring.

"I need to get out there every so often," she joked. "I don't want them to forget about me."

DiAnne performed between LeAnn Rimes and Sawyer Brown at the Southern Festival Grounds, south of Picayune, and opened for Mark Chesnutt and Bryan White in Franklinton, La. The latter experience was practically surreal for the singer who lives to perform.

"I forget how many of thousands of people there were," she said. "But I just did what I love to do. It just came. The response that I got from the audience -- they were actually enjoying it. And if they like it, I just love it that much more."

From being nominated for a prestigious newcomer award to hearing her song on a Nashville radio station for the first time, things seem to be moving rapidly for DiAnne. But she's sure she can handle it.

"I've worked so hard for this. Now that it's happening, I just can't believe it," she said. "But as long as they let me, I will do this for the rest of my life."

Lisa Damiano can be reached at 896-2304 or lmdamiano@sunherald.com.

© 2000 The Sun Herald.