Country music women hit road together

NASHVILLE (AP) - Reba McEntire is following up her run on Broadway in "Annie Get Your Gun" with a twist on the typical summer country music tour. The Girls' Night Out tour features an all-female bill of five acts, aspiring to be a sort of Lilith Fair of country music. The tour opens Friday in Las Vegas. It will play in 25 cities through August. Martina McBride, Sara Evans, Jamie O'Neal and newcomer Carolyn Dawn Johnson also will perform. The tour is a nice counterpoint to the testosterone-driven Neon Circus and Wild West Show. "It's an opportunity to showcase a variety in styles among the women in country music," O'Neal said. "It's also significant that all-female concerts are filling seats. It's no longer necessary to have a male on the bill."