At 46, K.T. Oslin is clicking in country as lady of the '80s

NASHVILLE, Tenn. Singer K. T. Oslin burst into the country-musicscene last year with a top-selling album called " '80s Ladies." Shewon a Grammy Award earlier this year. And her current hit, "I'llAlways Come Back," is No. 1 on Billboard's country-singles chart.

"Timing and luck are 90 percent of this business," Oslin said."Talent and perseverance are the rest of it. Whatever clicked,people were ready to hear my music. They were ready to hear a voicelike mine.

"They were ready to accept someone a little older than youusually see, not a raving beauty, not model-thin. Five years fromnow, it may not work. Five years ago, it didn't work at all. I knowthat firsthand."

Entertainers want to hit big when they are young because "we allwant to be wild and rich and famous," she said. But Oslin, whonever tries to hide her age, 46, said she feels more like 28.

A native of Crossett, Ark., Oslin grew up in Houston and beganher singing career as a folk artist in the 1960s. She triedBroadway, then wrote advertising jingles. She tried Nashville againbut flopped and returned to the big city. Then she made one more tryand it clicked.

One reason for the second-time-around success is that today'saudiences are different.

"Baby boomers are very influential in this country," Oslin said."They are in their late 30s or 40s and don't feel old. They havegone through any number of kinds of music. Baby boomers have reallybeen involved in music.

"They don't necessarily relate to rock 'n' roll all over again,but they still groove to the music. So they search for the musicthey can relate to, and it's becoming more country."

Oslin said country music is evolving and changing, and some ofthe "old guard" is on the way out.

"For years and years, I didn't like country because all itconnoted to me was men singing songs about about being drunk onwhiskey and missing the girlfriend they had cheated on and treatedbadly or the wife that they had cheated on and treated badly, andhere I am drinking again.

"That was all it meant to me. It said nothing to me as a younggirl. It didn't apply to me. If you notice, those kind of songsdon't exist much anymore. We don't sit at the bar crying in ourbeer. We have other thoughts. The wider the thoughts, the wider theaudience."

If there is anyone who has developed her own theme in Nashville,it's Oslin. Her first No. 1 single, " '80s Ladies," has a line thatgoes, "We burned our bras, we burned our dinners and we burned ourcandles at both ends."

"I try to make the women in my songs as strong as they can be inthe particular situation they are in, which is usually a veryvulnerable situation," Oslin said.

"I don't write songs about rolling down the highway with myknapsack on my back, that sort of ambiguous `hit the road' that youcan do as a man.

"Women deal with emotions," she said. "Women are emotionalcreatures, and it drives men nuts. But that's the way we are. Iwrite songs about women in a particular situation. And I don't wanta woman to be a wimp, a victim, weak or unrealistic. She's not madeup to be a super person, but I try to give her strength where I can,because we need that."