Country Ready to Rock

By Stephen M. Silverman

03/27/1998 at 12:00 AM EST

Lee Ann Womack is ready for Wednesday's 36th annual Academy of Country Music Awards. "I've gotten so used to losing to Faith Hill that it's become commonplace for me," the country star joked to the Associated Press on Tuesday. "If you're going to lose to somebody, it might as well be Faith." Beside Womack and Hill, multiple nominees in the event, which will be broadcast on CBS, also include Toby Keith, the Dixie Chicks, Billy Gilman, Brad Paisley, Jamie O'Neal, John Michael Montgomery, George Strait, Brooks & Dunn, and Hill's husband, Tim McGraw. There's also a good deed going down in connection with the Awards. The Academy of Country Music has teamed with AllStarCharity.com and Country Cares in support of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. LeAnn Rimes, Womack, Hill, McGraw, Gilman, O'Neal and others will donate personal items either worn or used during the show to the fund-raiser. Every penny of each winning bid will go to St. Jude's. The ACM online auctions are expected to open Thurs. morning at 9 ET, the day after the Wednesday event.

• Click here to play our quiz on Faith Hill and Toby Keith