Womack Gets Bushed

By Stephen M. Silverman

05/12/1998 at 12:00 AM EDT

Lee Ann Womack is one savvy diplomat. Performing Sunday night for President and Laura Bush at their first formal White House dinner, the country star smiled and announced to her listeners: "I think we're just a little past Little Rock" -- before she launched into her song of the same title, reports PEOPLE. The Bushes hosted the dinner for the nations' governors, many of them old friends and supporters who got to know Dubya when he was governor of Texas. "Tonight's a night to enjoy ourselves," said the Prez before guests cut into their dinner, which included Maine lobster soup, grilled Texas beef and a desert described as a "chocolate tumbleweed." After the chow, the party moved to the East Room, where Womack and her band performed seven songs. The Grammy winner, wearing a pink sequined dress, introduced her hit, "I Hope You Dance," by saying, "This song is very fitting, because it's a song about hope and a song about the future." But it was Womack's finale that brought the President and First Lady -- as well as the governors -- to their feet. Its title? "Miles and Miles of Texas."