Buff Enough

By GINA VIVINETTO, Times Pop Music Critic

© St. Petersburg Times, published May 10, 2000

If looks could kill, and they do in Nashville, well, that's just hunky-dory for country music studs like Dalton Adams, Chad Yerbury and the Warren Brothers. Oh, and they sing, too.

You can't help but notice country singer Dalton Adams. He stands 6-foot-7 -- without his cowboy boots. His long blond hair and chiseled good looks also get attention.

A lot of attention.

Used to be, country music men weren't pin-ups. Hard-living George Jones, scrappy Willie Nelson or unshaven outlaw types like Merle Haggard and Waylon Jennings could never be called pretty boys.

But in a musical genre overhauling its image with stylish Shania Twain and fashionable Faith Hill, Adams, 29, is a local example of country men following the Nashville trend. Sure, it's great to be talented. But add washboard abs, spiffy duds and a hip image to the mix and voila: Hunkytonk.

Taking a cue from handsome country crooners such as Toby Keith and newcomer Andy Griggs, whom Entertainment Weekly calls a cross between Travis Tritt and actor Brad Pitt, Adams knows it pays to look good. That's why he lifts weights and runs a mile every day. He visits a tanning booth. Eats a low-carb diet. Never touches a morsel after 7 p.m. And that hair. It's bleached, right?

"Color-manipulated," Adams corrects, laughing.

But the singer is more than a pretty face. Will You Marry Me, Adams' debut CD, is chock-full of raucous tunes. "Biker country," Adams calls it. The singer's deep voice ranges from a honky-tonk growl to a silky ballad croon. He writes all his own material and also plays guitar.

Tom Shepard, owner of the Round Up, a Tampa venue that hosts national and local country acts, says females flock to see Adams and other stylish male country artists. The men, Shepard says, are just keeping up with Nashville acts such as the Dixie Chicks, and, of course, Twain and Hill. Hunky artists such as Ty Herndon and Toby Keith, he says, pack the Round Up.

"Women go crazy for these good-looking guys, with their shirts open and leather pants," says Shepard. "They're the Ricky Martins of country."

Shepard loves it. "As a club owner, it's great." These throngs of women, after all, pay a cover. It doesn't hurt the genre, Shepard adds, to be in stride with the times. "Country music," Shepard says, "needs a little bit of a boost."

Here's a look at some locally bred country hunks.

DALTON ADAMS: On his farm in Hudson, Dalton Adams sits petting Maggie, his favorite of four chihuahuas. Though the motorcycle-riding bad boy calls his raucous music "biker country" and sports around Pasco County on a $26,000 Indian cycle, or in his red Porsche 959, the singer has a sensitive side.

During a two-hour conversation, Adams, who possesses as much quirky wit as confidence, dresses Maggie in a variety of outfits. She patiently endures a Harley Davidson helmet, a Santa Claus suit, even army fatigues. Adams says he buys dolls and puts their clothes on Maggie. Or he sews them himself.

But he's not just a hunk with a good voice and an eye for canine fashion. A graduate of Radford University in southern Virginia with a pre-med degree, Adams, who says he invested well in the stock market, enjoys his time away from music by scuba diving, flying small planes and cruising in one of his four boats.

But Adams says he is still looking for Ms. Right. The singer claims he can't get a date.

"I don't know how to talk to women. I'm too busy with my guitar, I guess." Adams says.

He's not sure if there would be as much buzz about his music if he were frumpy.

"I really don't have a control group," Adams jokes. "I don't put on an ugly mask and go back onstage and try again."

[Times photo: Douglas R. Clifford] Adams tools around Hudson astride his 2000 Indian motorcycle. It’s all about image if he’s to make a name for himself in country music.

Adams says he isn't impressed by artists who don't take their image into consideration.

"Other performers wear sweatpants, come out onstage with a water bottle like they're at a rehearsal." Not him. "I get dressed up fancy," he says. Usually he sports his trademark leather vest. "Or I might come out with a dinner jacket on." Adams has even ridden his motorcycle onstage. "I give a show," he says. "I give them their money's worth."

The singer's handlers thank their lucky stars Adams is so hunky.

"Look, he is a sexy, good-looking guy," says manager Doug Cutting. "He's got talent, incredible talent, but everybody knows sex sells in our society. That's what gets them in there, but the music keeps them there."

Cutting and his wife, Nancy, who together own Crescendo Records, think they have a star on their hands. "I knew Dalton should have been famous the day I met him." Cutting says. "We are just making that correction."

REBEL PRIDE: Chad Yerbury, 26, is the leader of Tampa Bay's Rebel Pride, another act that draws huge audiences at the Round Up (they play this weekend at Rudy's in Largo). With his clean-cut good looks, Yerbury, a former military man who often sports a cowboy hat over his buzz cut, is considered one of the hottest singers on the local country scene. Yerbury knows the band's fan base is largely female.

[Publicity photo] Chad Yerbury hides a military-style buzz cut under his cowboy hat.

Yerbury, like Adams, says the trick is to win over the crowd with Rebel Pride's music, what he calls Southern "cowboy rock." The band's self-titled CD also shows its sense of humor with songs such as I Curse the Stars (I Hate The Moon) and Bubbafied. Rebel Pride's high-energy sets, which sometimes stretch to three hours, involve a lot of paying attention to the ladies.

But Yerbury, who is single, says he leaves the swooning females at the bars. "I don't like to mix it. Then you have women following you from gig to gig. And I want people to respect me as an artist, too."

"It works for us," Yerbury says. "We love our female fans."

"I'm flattered," he says. "I think it's cool."

What do those lady fans love? The singer's tight Wrangler jeans. "They call me the Butt Guy," Yerbury says, laughing. "The Wrangler butt has haunted me for a long time."

THE WARREN BROTHERS: The Warren Brothers, who got their start at home in Tampa, now live in Nashville and are recording a new album on major label BNA. The band's first disc, Beautiful Day In The Cold Cruel World, has enjoyed several Top 40 country hits. Another song will be featured in the film Where the Heart Is.

Brett, 29 and Brad, 31, wear hip leather jackets, stylish long hair and tattoos. They're considered two of country music's finest, most fashionable men.

That's fine with them.

"Come on, how many guys can wear the exact same starched shirt and Wrangler jeans?" says Brad Warren from a tour stop in Hartford, Conn. "I'm glad we have Alan Jackson, but how many more of him do we need?"

Warren says their music label tried to clean up the duo at first. Now they're back to wearing what they want, which, Warren says, basically means a lot of black clothes like their idol Johnny Cash. He says their cutting-edge look is in line with the genre's history.

[Publicity photo] Hillbillies? The Warren Brothers say hardly. This country act is attracting fans to their music and their looks.

"Country boys early on were rough and tough boys," he says. Does that explain the tattoo?

"Well, it's my son's initials," Warren says. "Not even my mom can have a problem with that."

Although it's the music that matters most, Warren concedes, it's important for the brothers to be authentic. "We don't overemphasize our image," he says. "We don't want to be too hip for the room, you know? But we do want to be ourselves."

Both brothers are married and new fathers. Their wives are accepting of the female fans.

"My wife thinks it's hilarious," Warren says. "She knows if I wasn't onstage with a guitar, these women wouldn't give me a second look." He says he can't count how many times guys at shows tell them, "My girlfriend dragged me here, but I really liked the music." That satisfies him as an artist.

Warren realizes, too, that because of their edgy image they attract people to country music who otherwise would never give the genre a chance. "We're not on a crusade," Warren says ,"Younger people see us and think, "This is country music I can sink my teeth into.' We're the guys who are not hillbillies."

St. Petersburg Times researcher Kitty Bennett contributed to this report.