Country: 1999

Looking ahead to the new millennium, and, in most cases, decidedly not back at their roots, country's biggest stars set their sights on horizons way beyond Nashville in 1999. With a whisper that explodes into a starburst swirl of unbridled passion, Faith Hill completes her transition from country star to multiplatinum pop diva on "Breathe." Shania Twain gets a hard-rockin' hand from hubby (and Def Leppard producer) Mutt Lange, dropping in crunchy guitars and slabs of synth to her sinewy strut "Man! I Feel Like a Woman!" And Martina McBride delivers a sugar-dipped pop valentine in the three little words every woman wants to hear, but few have ever sung so sweetly: "I Love You." In Next Steps, we'll hear what the men had to say about the state of country at the end of the '90s.

While lots of country's ladies aimed for the Pop charts, Nashville's cowboy contingent planted its boots firmly in the solid ground of times gone by. Case in point: the man who ignited the "new traditionalist" movement, George Strait, slow-dancing a wistful waltz for the lady who got away in "Meanwhile." Tim McGraw, cutting his first album since marrying Faith Hill in the biggest country merger since June Carter and Johnny Cash, ramps up his Marshall stacks — for his pedal-steel sideman — in the no-frills citybilly of "For a Little While." The Kinleys (Heather and Jennifer), meanwhile, rest "Somebody's Out There Watching" on the reliable pillars of slide guitar and fiddle without sacrificing pop appeal. In Deep Cuts, we'll follow the sound of country's blazin'-est bands from back in the day.

In Deep Cuts, we're striking up the bands that set the airwaves ablaze. And when it comes to country bands, they just don't make 'em bigger than Alabama, who positively shimmer with an unexpected jangle-pop sparkle in "Keepin' Up," originally released as a bonus track from the For the Record compilation, which boasts 41 chart-topping hits. If you're hankerin' for the sound of close-harmony vocals riding shotgun beside guitars that ring out like a Sunday-go-to-meetin' bell, BlackHawk delivers the goods in "There You Have It" . . . as does Farmer's Daughter, uniting Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba in a prairie-province triumvirate of country talent.

As the decade (and millennium) drew to a close, the country world partied like it was 1999 . . . because it was 1999. Faith Hill's "Breathe" rocketed her to the top of not only the Country charts, but also into the upper stratosphere of the Pop world as well. The Academy of Country Music and the Country Music Association agreed that Shania Twain was the Entertainer of the Year and that the Dixie Chicks were the year's best band, even if they were feuding like the Hatfields and McCoys. And from breakout stars like the Wilkinsons and Montgomery Gentry to superstars like George Strait, Alan Jackson, and Trisha Yearwood, we've got the year in country covered like a big, black Stetson.